Thursday is usually one of the best nights of the week in the NBA because TNT has a national doubleheader and the league tries to give its TV partner marquee matchups in those slots. After all, TNT is shelling out billions of dollars. However, TNT is also part of the NCAA Tournament television package so it will not have the NBA doubleheader for the first two weeks of the Big Dance. Frankly, college basketball will overshadow the NBA overall for the next three weeks.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

This Thursday, the TNT opener is a potential Eastern Conference Finals preview between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, with the opening line off the board as of Wednesday night due to the uncertain status of Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. He has missed the past two games with a minor knee injury. The Bucks are locks to finish with the Eastern Conference’s best record (and probably the NBA’s best). Boston is battling Toronto for the No. 2 seed but falling back of late. As long as the Celtics don’t fall to No. 4, they would avoid Milwaukee until the East Finals.

In the 2019 postseason, the Celtics won the first game of the conference semifinals in Milwaukee but then lost the next four. These teams have split two meetings thus far this regular season, each winning at home. The Bucks are 4-2 ATS in the past six in the series.