With their Christmas Day win over Milwaukee, the Boston Celtics moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference closing the week with a pair of victories after an uncharacteristic three-game home losing streak. Boston looks to close out its seven-game homestand on a positive note taking on the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. The clubs met just a few weeks ago in LA with the Clips victorious 113-93, their third straight win and cover in the series.
The NBA contest between the Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics takes place at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 29, 2022, from TD Garden in Boston and will air live on NBA TV. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game on the Thursday NBA schedule.
NBA Opening Lines at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
The Clippers were lucky enough last season to catch the Celtics before Boston went on its epic second half run winning both games in December while the Cs were still losing more games than they were winning. Not sure what the excuse is for earlier this month when the Clips cruised to a 20-point victory covering the 4-point spread. LA opened its current five-game road trip with a 119-114 loss to Philadelphia showing us just how average they are away from home. They failed to cover the 3.5-point spread falling to 8-8 SU and ATS on the road. They have the sixth-best OVER rate in road games playing above the total in 62.5 percent of their games.
Even the best go through spurts of uneven play and the Celtics are hoping their bout with ineffectiveness is over. Coming off a season-long six-game road trip where they went 4-2 SU and 3-2-1 ATS, they opened the current homestand with two losses to Orlando and one to Indiana for their longest skid of the season. They were favored by at least 9.5 points in each game and were booed by the faithful when trailing the Pacers 71-43 at halftime. Boston turned things around quickly ending their skid with a 121-109 payout win over Minnesota and dominating Milwaukee 139-118 in a battle of the top teams in the Association.
Los Angeles Clippers
Is being steady better than being streaky? I guess we’ll find out by following the Clippers. They haven’t won more than three consecutive games all season and they haven’t lost more than two straight since a four-game slide in the first two weeks of the season. They won four of five games on a recent homestand going 4-1 ATS that included a 20-point victory over the Celtics. They will be playing their third game in four nights on Thursday following a back to back against Detroit and Toronto. That means ailing stars Kawhi Leonard and John Wall could be unavailable.
The Clips are likely kicking themselves for blowing a 20-point first half lead against the Sixers in the opener of their road trip. Leonard scored 28 points in that game and Paul George added 22, but the Clips were outscored 68-51 in the second half with George held to five points. With guys like Leonard, PG13, Norman Powell and Reggie Jackson, you’d expect the offense to have more punch than what it does. LA averages just 107.8 points and the UNDER is 21-13 through their first 34 games.
Boston Celtics
What’s happened with the Celtics on this homestand is hard to understand and harder to explain. They lost consecutive games to Orlando, one of the worst teams in the NBA then fell to Indiana, a .500 team. Good teams work their way out of slumps fast not letting bad habits become the norm. Great players also play a role in turning things around. Jaylen Brown scored 36 points, 23 in the fourth quarter to help pull away for a 121-109 win over Minnesota ending the losing streak. Jayson Tatum chipped in 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Then on Christmas Day in a battle between the two best teams in the NBA, the Celtics strutted their dominance with an impressive 139-118 win. Tatum scored 41 points and Brown added 29 as the Celtics shot 59 percent from the field making 19 three-pointers. Between them Tatum and Brown average 57.5 points helping Boston lead the NBA in scoring with 118.7 points per game. They combined for 41 points in the 113-93 loss to LA a few weeks ago, the first time the C’s failed to score 100 points all season.
NBA Odds Pick
With their little skid seemingly over the Celtics have a chance to gain some momentum at the conclusion of their homestand. And despite those earlier losses they’ve been one of the best home teams in the NBA which will help them end their losing streak in this series while avenging that earlier 20-point setback.
NBA Odds Prediction: Boston Celtics / OVER
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