3 things to watch as Milwaukee Bucks take on pesky Detroit Pistons

The only storyline left for the Milwaukee Bucks is who they’ll play in the first round

So, with the win over the Celtics, the Bucks are now a half-game up on them for the 2nd seed in the East and a full game up on the Philadelphia 76ers, who are in fourth.

Including tonight, the Bucks have two games left, the Celtics have one (at Memphis on Sunday), and the Sixers have two (at home against Indiana and Detroit). Milwaukee has the tiebreaker over Philadelphia thanks to their head-to-head record so one more win and they’re guaranteed to be either second or third.

They’re now 2-2 against Boston head-to-head so that makes things complicated. If the Celtics win their game against Memphis, that would clinch the division and give them the tiebreaker over Milwaukee.

If the Celtics win that game and the Bucks go 1-1 in their final two games, Milwaukee is the third seed. If they go 1-1 and the Celtics lose their last game, the Bucks are the two seed.

If Milwaukee loses its final two games (which is a possibility if they rest for both games), they could fall to fourth if Boston and Philly win out. If they go 0-2 and either the Celtics or Sixers lose a game (or two in Philly’s case), the Bucks will be third.

And, of course, if Milwaukee wins out then they’re the second seed (duh). Big credit to Matt Moore of Action Network for the tiebreaker scenarios.

I’m not even going to attempt to tell you the scenarios for their potential playoff opponent, but the condensed version is that they could play anyone from the fifth-seed Toronto Raptors to the Charlotte Hornets (who would have to move up into the eighth seed).

The Raptors appear unlikely since the Bucks would have to lose both games to fall to fourth or the Raptors would have to lose both of their final games to fall to sixth.

This is why I pondered if the Milwaukee Bucks would actually rest guys tonight because of seeding. However, making sure guys are healthy and rested for the playoffs is more important than getting the second seed.

Isn’t the playoff seeding race fun!