Very Important Game: Can the Celtics beat the Bucks with a revamped roster?

The last time these two teams faced off, the Celtics won the first game and then crumbled for the rest of the series. It was a fitting but frustrating end to a frustrating season for the Celtics. It was also the final (bad) look at Kyrie Irving in a Boston Celtics uniform.

A year before the Celtics were able to knock the Bucks out of the playoffs behind stellar performances by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (not to mention the since departed Terry Rozier).

This is starting to feel like a legitimate modern rivalry between these two teams.

Since then, Giannis Antetokounmpo has won the MVP trophy for his regular season performance. Also since then, Kemba Walker has replaced Irving and the Celtics have focused their growth around Tatum and Brown. Will that mix be enough to shift the balance back in Boston’s favor?

Wednesday’s game in TD Garden will provide some early answers to that question as the two teams square off again.

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While we’ll have to wait till the postseason to see if the Celtics can reclaim the upper hand, this regular season matchup can provide clues into a lot of questions about the teams. Such as:

• How will the Celtics look to slow Giannis down with both Horford and Baynes gone from the squad?
• Can Tatum and Brown recapture some of that magic of the 2018 playoff run now that they are back to being more featured in the offense?
• How much does losing Malcolm Brogdon hurt the Bucks?
• Will Khris Middleton ever miss a shot against the Celtics?
• Brook Lopez vs Enes Kanter should be an interesting matchup.
• How does Kemba Walker impact the matchup?

Should be a challenging early season test for the Celtics and a very interesting matchup between these two all too familiar teams.

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