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The Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks have had a bit of a rivalry building up over the last few years. The two teams have faced each other multiple times in the playoffs. While the Cs have had the Bucks' number at the start, Giannis Antetokounmpo's rise to the top has turned the tides over the years.
Despite the rivalry, Milwaukee has definitely earned the respect of Celtics fans. Case in point: Paul Pierce, who praised Giannis Antetokounmpo after his 44-point outburst against the Brooklyn Nets in a series of tweets. Talk about dropping a Truth bomb!
The Greek is the MVP and Defence of player of the year speak on it Best player in the NBA
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) April 1, 2022
And might win the scoring title all in the same year 😂killer
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) April 1, 2022
While Pierce's wording is a little… off, the sentiment is completely valid. Giannis is on track to earn another MVP honor this season, thanks to his incredible two-way play. While the Celtics could scheme to contain Antetokounmpo before, his massive improvements on offense have made it increasingly difficult to pin him down in the last few playoff series.
This year's Celtics are pretty much built to contain Giannis, though. There's no player that can shut down The Greek Freak one-on-one, but there are ways of negating his impact. Ime Udoka's defense serves to be potentially the only thing preventing Antetokounmpo to go crazy against the Eastern Conference.
If it's possible, the Celtics will surely want to avoid the monster that is Antetokounmpo until much later in the playoffs. However, as we've seen over the last few weeks, their defense has vastly improved thanks to a new scheme that revolves around Robert Williams. If they get back their center before the playoffs, there's a chance they can knock out the defending champions.
