Robb: For Celtics, it's put up or shut up time on the road

MILWAUKEE -- The road back towards the top of the Eastern Conference standings is going to be a long one for these Celtics, but it has to start somewhere. A matchup with the best team in the NBA on Thursday night is a fitting place to begin.

The nationally televised showdown will be the third and final contest between the Celtics and Bucks during the regular season with 24 games remaining on the calendar for Boston. The possibility of catching Milwaukee (6.5 games back) or Toronto (5.5 games back) for a top-two seed with so little time left in the regular season is a long shot at best, but it’ll be a no-shot without wins on the road this week over both teams. The Bucks will clinch the season tiebreaker with a victory tonight, while the Raptors will assure themselves of a season split with Boston if they pull out a win on Tuesday.

The Celtics have fared quite well against elite competition in the East this year (7-3 versus top four teams), but only one of those wins have come on the road (at Philadelphia), a reality that’s reflective of this team’s road woes (14-13) all year. They’ve beaten just two teams with records over .500 in the past three months, putting extra pressure on themselves now to step up their game against elite competition with a reduced margin of error in the standings. Five of their next six opponents on the road will have .500 plus records.

That particular schedule quirk could even make securing the No. 3 seed a potential challenge in the next two months, especially since consistency has been a big issue for this group all year long. They’ve made strides on the road lately (winners of four straight) but this group still has not won two consecutive games on a road trip since back in October.

On Thursday night, the work begins with the Bucks, who have added a new piece to their mix in Nikola Mirotic that will make life defending them even tougher for Boston, particularly with Aron Baynes (bruised foot) out and Gordon Hayward (twisted ankle) likely sidelined.

“I think a lot like what you’ve seen so far with their efficiency with Ilyasova,” Brad Stevens said of the impact of Mirotic. “It’s very similar. Both those guys are excellent standstill shooters and can make tough threes. We’ve seen Mirotic—some of the threes he’s hit against us in the recent past, that game in New Orleans earlier this year when he went nuts—he can shoot off screens, he can catch it in transition. He can shoot it in a number of different ways. But he and Ilyasova are both really crafty. They can put the ball on the floor. They can get to the line. They have different ways they can score and so it’s just another body that can do that. Their additions here midseason, when you think about not only him, but George Hill, I think are really good ones for how they want to do things.”

One of the few weaknesses the Bucks have had has been their outside shooting (34.9 percent from 3) and Mirotic’s addition will help them address that issue immediately while keeping the floor spread around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton. Milwaukee’s guards (Eric Bledsoe, George Hill) have been a bit underwhelming from deep all year so it will be interesting to see how heavily they are leaned on versus the sharpshooters in the frontcourt for Milwaukee against the Celtics.

The one silver lining from Hayward’s injury is that it opens the door for more minutes for Semi Ojeleye in a matchup against Antetokounmpo, which should highly benefit Boston’s defense. I’ve been sounding the alarm for more Ojeleye minutes for a couple weeks now and a couple injuries have opened the door for him now. It’s going to be hard for him to maintain regular bench minutes share once everyone is back in the fold, but getting a closer look at him for this type of matchup should help Boston play to their defensive strengths more.

“Well, I mean, it’s pretty simple, right? There’s only so many guys with the strength to have a chance to slow down Giannis,” Stevens said of Ojeleye. “And that’s all you’re trying to do is make it as difficult as possible and make him earn everything. He still gets to where he wants to go, you still have to show your help with multiple defenders, but Semi’s body allows for minutes at that matchup. So that’s been a big part of it. Obviously, in the playoffs, that’s what we decided to go to, and that was as much of a decision about moving Al to the 5 as it was moving somebody in to guard Giannis. So he’ll play tonight, but I think again you have to guard him as a team.”

The biggest challenge for the Celtics tonight though could very well be scoring the ball against the top-rated defense in the NBA. The Bucks are allowing just under 100 points per 100 possessions at home, thanks to elite defensive rebounding and keeping opponents off the free throw line. Milwaukee has length everywhere and essentially challenges its opponents to make deep, contested looks instead of getting into the paint.

The Celtics obviously have the personnel to win this type of game from the perimeter, but the team’s role players have been far inferior shooters on the road all year long. The splits are jarring for guys like Jaylen Brown (31 percent), Hayward (30 percent) and Ojeleye (27 percent). Boston will need to make Milwaukee pay for conceding these outside looks.

In the midst of a dramatic past few weeks full of free agent speculation, trade demands by potential targets and Marcus Morris calling out his teammates, the Celtics looked like they are actually turning the corner as a team on the floor. They have won 12 of their last 15 overall and could very well be 14-1 over that stretch without the collapses against the Lakers and Clippers. Their depth has stood up well in the face of injuries, but the schedule has also been very friendly.

That all changes starting tonight. This group is capable of picking up where they left off before the All-Star break, but that consistency against elite competition has been hard to come by all year long. If this group wants to get to where it wants to be in May and June, they are going to have to be able to play to its capabilities on the road on a regular basis. They passed one checkpoint last Tuesday and now it's time to string a few together.