NBA games of the week: Celtics chase down Raptors
By Chazz Scogna
Tuesday, Apr. 3: Boston at Milwaukee, 8:00 p.m. ET
The similarities between the Raptors and Celtics schedule this week is a one of the fortuitous happenings in late-season schedule making. The NFL takes advantage of the late-season drama by making Week 17 divisional games. Sometimes they don’t matter, but in the times they do, it’s some of the most energetic viewing in the regular season.
The NBA doesn’t have that luxury for a few reasons. A first is way more games. A second is divisions don’t really mean anything in the NBA, except for conference tie-breaking baloney. Still, once in a while we catch a break like this. Though the Celtics don’t play a team of Cleveland’s caliber the way the Raptors do, they will face a playoff team on the first night of a back-to-back.
After losing the first matchup against Milwaukee, the Celtics have ripped off two straight and are going for the season win. The Bucks continue to be the Bucks and, despite an uptick at the start of interim coach Joe Prunty’s tenure, they are still giving up a ton of corner 3-pointers and shots at the rim. The Celtics are third in the league in 3-point shooting percentage and shoot at least 40 percent from the corners.
I’m always curious to see what would happen if a guy like Prunty was given the reins and assured he’d still have a job no matter what. The efficacy of interim coaching tags and the lack of job security as an NBA coach leading to problems such as these — the inability for a coach to get the most out of a team — is a conversation that should be looked at in depth. The pressure for coaches like Prunty could lead them to rash lineup decisions. Prunty probably won’t be kept on after the end of the season. The Bucks, complete with a young superstar and long athletes, will be an opening every available coach will want.