Bucks will be shorthanded vs. Celtics for Friday opener

Megan
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Posted on: July 30, 2020 8:21 pm EDT

The NBA restarts their regular season tonight with a doubleheader, including a great battle between the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers.

The action then heats up tomorrow (Friday) with six contests. Remember all games are being played in the ‘bubble’ in Orlando with no real fans in attendance. That takes away any homecourt advantage.

One of those games being played tomorrow is the Milwaukee Bucks against the Boston Celtics (6:30pm ET, ESPN). Milwaukee is a 4.5-point favorite at the Winning Poker Network sportsbooks with a total of 219 points.

Note these are also the two favored teams to win the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee is the heavy favorite at -201, followed by Boston (+495), Philadelphia (+634) and Toronto (+762).

Boston’s Kemba Walker is dealing with a knee injury, but he is expected to be available and play about half the game. The Bucks will be without two key players in Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connaughton. Both had previously attracted Covid-19, with the loss of Bledsoe felt significantly more as the starting point guard.

Bucks’ coach Mike Budenholzer commented on the absence of his two players (source ESPN).

“It’s a little bit of conditioning, a little bit of just rhythm and everything. Everybody else is getting ready to play in a live game and have had 10 to 12 to 14 days of probably 5-on-5 every other day and individual work and all that so I think giving Bled and Pat a couple of 5-on-5 sessions at a minimum and getting some 3-on-3 in other situations or days. They just need to play so I think that’s a big hurdle and with playing will come both conditioning and their rhythm so we’re going to make sure they get some of that before we put them in an NBA game.”

Keep checking back at WPN sportsbooks for any odds changes.