Boston Celtics vs Portland Trail Blazers betting tips and predictions for Wednesday’s NBA game at TD Garden. Boston is hoping to avoid losing their 4th game in a row as they host Damian Lillard and the shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Boston Celtics
We haven’t seen the Celtics struggling often this season, but the past 7 days or so haven’t been kind to them. First they dropped a home game by double-digits against the Nets despite being 11-point favorites. Then they followed it up with 2 OT losses against the Knicks and Cavaliers, both in dramatic fashion.
The loss at Cleveland last time out should sting them a bit as they had 2 free throws to seal the game at the very end, but Grant Williams bricked both of them. On paper, Portland seems to be the ideal team to bounce back against, but there has to be a level of urgency here among the Celtics players, otherwise they won’t be able to win this game. Boston is just 1-4 SU/ATS in their last 5 outings.
Portland Trail Blazers
Playing Eastern Conference teams hasn’t been ideal for the Blazers who are just 3-11 ATS in their last 14 such games. They’re also just 4-12 ATS in their last 16 games on the road, but despite all those numbers they’re still in the running to make the play-in tournament. Right now they’re tied with the Pelicans for the 10th seed with a 31-34 record, so a win tonight would be a huge moral boost.
It will be anything but easy though, Boston has owned the head-to-head meetings lately winning 4 of the last 6. Injuries are also playing a huge part in the outcome of Portland’s season. Justise Winslow, Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic are all likely to miss tonight’s game. It’ll be once again up to Damian Lillard to keep this team afloat, he’s scored 30+ points in 2 of the last 4 games against Boston.
A team that’s lost 3 straight games has to win by 10 points here to cover the spread. Standing in their way is a team that’s battling for their playoff lives, I’m not sure if Boston is going to do it. They should still win, but Portland keeps this one close. Back the away team and the extra points.
Boston Celtics vs Portland Trail Blazers Predictions & Odds
At 229.5 points the projected total doesn’t seem all that big here for the two teams to clear it. If we look at head-to-head meetings, 7 of the last 10 played have gone over the total with an average of 221.2 points per game scored. Boston has a habit of going over the total in home games, their record reads 23-11 on the O/U which isn’t all that surprising considering they’ve spent the majority of the season as one of the top 3 most efficient offensive teams in the NBA.
Games played at TD Garden between the two teams are 4-2 in favor of the over in the last 6 played. With Lillard in solid form here and both teams needing a win badly, I think we’ll see a fast paced game, so let’s go with the points.
