BSJ Live Coverage: Celtics at bucks 8:00 p.m. - Keeping up the pace

BOSTON CELTICS at MILWAUKEE BUCKS

Location: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wis.

Game time: 8:00 p.m.

TV: NBC Sports Boston

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Celtics injury report:

• Devin Carter - OUT (G League, two-way)
• Chris Cenac Jr. - OUT (G League, on assignment)
• Dillon Mitchell - OUT (G League, two-way)
• Mitchell Robinson - QUESTIONABLE (illness)
• Amari Williams - OUT (G League, two-way)

Bucks injury report:

• Kam Jones - OUT (G League, two-way)
• Bogoljub Markovic - OUT (G League, on assignment)
• Pete Nance - OUT (G League, two-way)
• Cormac Ryan - OUT (G League, two-way)

Preview: The Boston Celtics are hitting the second city of their current road trip, traveling to the Midwest for a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. They took down the Charlotte Hornets 119-80 on Friday night, and now, they'll be looking to repeat that success in Milwaukee.

Boston has won two games in a row since its tough loss to the Houston Rockets. The Celtics are 7-2 through their first nine games of the season.

Meanwhile, the Bucks haven't been quite as successful. In fact, their 1-8 record is good for the worst mark in the Eastern Conference so far.

Last time around: This won't be the first time these two teams have met this season. In fact, they played each other just a couple of games ago (on Monday).

In the first half, the Celtics went up big. Even without Jayson Tatum in the lineup (he was out for rest), Boston looked like it was about to cruise to a blowout victory.

But the Bucks surged forward in the third quarter. They rained down threes and climbed their way back into the contest. They even took the lead at one point in the fourth quarter.

However, Paul George, Derrick White, and Neemias Queta made sure the Celtics walked out with a victory. It certainly wasn't pretty, but it was a Celtics win nonetheless.

Shootaround sound: It's been a lot of 'taking care of business' for the Celtics early in the season. A lot of teams that, on paper, Boston is better than. That doesn't make the Celtics' life easy.

For the Celtics, this will be the second matchup in three games against the Bucks. But they can't expect everything to go the same way.

"Well, I think we've already been in that situation with Chicago," Hugo Gonzalez said at shootaround on Sunday morning. "We already got that experience of, you can't expect they're gonna play the same way two times. We've already beaten them at home. They're gonna take pride at home to defend their court, so we just gotta expect a different game today."

Boston has played the Chicago Bulls twice. It earned a blowout win in each game. But the Bucks showed more fight. They showed they were capable of competing, at least for a bit.

So, as the Celtics prepare for Sunday night, they can't take anything for granted. They have a couple of big-time games coming up -- a back-to-back against the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors, but that cannot distract them.

"I'm always one game at a time," Luka Garza said. "To be honest, I don't really -- Like, if you were to ask me to name the next five games we play, I don't really know. I'm just kind of focused on the moment, what game we have now. This is a game we want to win because we want to win every game, and so, the focus and the mindset stays the same. And that'll carry on to whoever we play after that."

Quick stats: As noted, the Bucks are just 1-8 this year. That's tied for the worst record in the NBA. And it's not hard to see why when you look at the stats.

Milwaukee is 22nd in the league in points per game (109.7) and 20th in 3-point percentage (33.3%). The Bucks also commit the 10th-most fouls per game (23.1).

They are 27th in offensive rating (106.6) and 27th in defensive rating (118.6). Neither side of the ball has been going well for the Bucks this year.

Tyler Herro has been Milwaukee's leading scorer. He's putting up 22.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 45.8% from the field and 41.1% from deep on 8.1 3-pointers a night.

Right behind him is Jaime Jaquez Jr. Both guys were sent to Milwaukee in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade with the Miami Heat. Jaquez is averaging 16.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. He's shooting 48.7% from the floor and 44.7% from beyond the arc on 4.2 3-point attempts per contest.