How the Bucks’ embarrassing loss to Celtics impacts East standings

On paper, the Milwaukee Bucks’ March 30 matchup with the Boston Celtics was supposed to be one of their top games of the entire season.

With the Eastern Conference standings as tight as ever, this matchup was highly anticipated, and fans were hoping to get an all-time classic. Unfortunately, this one was one-sided from the start, as the Celtics dominated the Bucks from start to finish. After a full-blown beatdown, Boston went to the visiting locker room with a 140-99 victory.

The Bucks looked deflated from the moment this one tipped off. Many have pointed to the Bucks’ recent travel schedule, which included a game the night before, as a possible reason why, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. The Celtics simply came out with more energy than the Bucks, which will now have an impact on the Eastern Conference standings down the stretch.

How the Bucks’ embarrassing loss to Celtics impacts East standings

With the loss, the Bucks moved to 55-22 on the season. While they still possess the best record in the entire NBA, their lead shrunk to two games. A win would have put them in excellent position to wrap up that one seed in the East, but now, things just got even more complicated for Milwaukee. Boston has the coveted tiebreaker over Milwaukee with a 2-1 regular season series victory, which puts even more pressure on the Bucks to handle business over these final few games. Each team has five games left on their respective schedules, and they will both be in pursuit of that one seed.

At the end of the day, all one can do is hope that this blowout loss serves as a wake-up call for the team. Hopefully, they will not dwell on this game and can use it as fuel moving forward, especially with a significant game on the schedule next. The Philadelphia 76ers, another team looking to get the East’s top overall seed, is coming to town on Sunday, and a win in that game would be big for the Bucks. They need to learn from the last contest and come out with some two-way intensity. It seems like they lost their focus against Boston and were lost for almost all 48 minutes.

Milwaukee simply did not look like the championship contender many have deemed them to be, but hopefully, they learn and bounce back from this loss.

Stay tuned for that crucial game against the 76ers on Sunday.