Milwaukee Bucks: 3 things to watch for in season opener against Boston Celtics
How will the Milwaukee Bucks take advantage of Kemba Walker’s absence?
Over the Mike Budenholzer-Bucks era, very few point guards have as big of a headache for the Bucks than Celtics All-Star guard Kemba Walker.
Between his lethal shooting off the dribble and his shifty paint penetration, Walker possesses the necessary skills that have often broken down the Bucks’ otherwise elite defense. Just last season, Walker averaged 29.3 points on 26-of-51 shooting from the field (51 percent), 11-of-28 shooting from three (39.3 percent), 6 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the Celtics’ three contests against the Bucks.
But the Celtics will obviously be without the four-time All-Star not just for the season opener, but for multiple weeks to start the season after receiving a stem cell injection in his left knee over the offseason. Walker is still a long way away from being available for action and is still practicing in 1-on-1 settings, per Celtics head coach Brad Stevens.
Kemba Walker is still "a long way away," according to Celtics coach Brad Stevens. He is working 1-on-1 at one basket with a coach, but is doing no cutting & is not doing anything outside of halfcourt work. The next official update on Walker won't be til the first week of January.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 22, 2020
That leaves veteran guard Jeff Teague, who the Celtics brought in on a one-year veteran minimum deal over the offseason, as the team’s starting point guard in lieu of Walker to start the season.
It goes without saying that Walker’s absence as well as Hayward’s departure puts even more of the onus on the likes of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to create the Celtics’ offense.
Tatum, in particular, has had his fair shares of struggles when going up against the Bucks and Milwaukee has a number of interesting of versatile defensive players to put on the fourth-year forward. The Duke product averaged 15.7 points on a .333/.313/.333 slash line, along with 6 rebounds and 2.7 assists in those three aforementioned games against the Bucks.
Without the Celtics’ head of the snake surveying the floor at the point, Boston is less threatening than they obviously would be at full strength and are down one of their few key shot creators. Given that the Bucks are deep within trying to getting in tune with their own roster and many changes, it will be interesting what gives first here in the teams’ first game of the season, respectively.