Bucks hope to slow rolling Celtics

MILWAUKEE -- Al Horford is expected to be back in the lineup Saturday when the Boston Celtics travel to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks at the Bradley Center.

Horford, who strained his groin Wednesday night against Houston, sat out Friday in the Celtics 128-98 rout of Orlando at the TD Garden but is listed as probable against the Bucks.

"He was really sore Wednesday, less sore (Thursday)," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said before the Celtics' 128-98 victory. "There's no need for additional testing. He's pretty close to being ready to play. And we're not going to play him if it wasn't close."

"(He) went through a workout (Friday) morning, actually felt pretty good but not quite 100 percent."

Boston will still be without guard Avery Bradley, who is dealing with a sore right Achilles tendon and won't travel with the team.

But without those two, the Celtics have been on a bit of a roll. They've won two in a row since a three-game losing streak, closing to within 3 1/2 games of the Cavaliers atop the Eastern conference.

The play of Isiah Thomas has been big reason why. He scored a team-leading 21 against the Magic and has now passed the 20-point threshold in 30 straight games, 10 away from the franchise mark set by John Havlicek.

But he's been getting plenty of help, too. Jaylen Brown and Tyler Zeller have stepped up their games and finished with a combined 30 Friday night.

"That's a huge lift when you can get guys who don't always score at that rate to give you that kind of boost," Stevens said.

Things have not been going well lately for the Bucks, who have dropped seven of their last eight game to fall to five games under .500 for the first time this season.

Scoring hasn't been much of a problem for the Bucks during their swoon. They put up 127 in a Monday victory over Houston followed by 109 in a loss to Philadelphia Wednesday night before the Raptors held them to just 86 Friday night.

Milwaukee's problem has come of the defensive end. After leading the league in defensive shooting percentage, the Bucks have fallen to 15th (48.9 percent) and are 11th in points allowed, giving up 104.5 per game.

"We've been scoring a lot of points and not playing too much on the defensive end," Kidd said. "We've got to get stops if we're going to win. We started the first 20 games playing a high end on the defensive side of the ball, and here of late, we're just trying to outscore teams.

"We do have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket, but we have to pay more attention to the defensive side."

The Celtics have won four of the last five meetings with the Bucks. They took the season series 3-1 a year ago, and are 3-3 over the last three seasons when playing in Milwaukee.