Boston Celtics will host Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden tonight in their 18th home match of the season.
Boston Celtics are currently 5th in the West with an overall record of 22-15 and a 3-2 record in their last 5 games. They have been defeated by Houston Rockets (127:113) and SA Spurs (120:111), while Boston managed to win over 76ers (121:114)(OT), Memphis Grizzlies (103:112) and most recently Minnesota Timberwolves (115:102). In home games, they are 12-5 this season with 3 consecutive wins behind them. Going into this match, Celtics will be without Baynes, Bird, Irving, while Morris and Williams are still questionable. The biggest reason for concern is the absence of Irving, but as we have seen from Boston, they are not short of good players and even without Irving, they have put up good performances. Gordon Hayward is without the doubt one we need to mention, as he has made 35 points off the bench against Wolves. He was one of the main reasons why Boston managed to defeat Wolves.
Dallas Mavericks have gathered some momentum at the start of the season, but their climb to the top 8 will be hard. The next match against will be one of the hardest for them this season and a real test of how good they are as they visit Boston Celtics at TD Garden. “The Matador” or Luka Doncic has proven to be the dominant player in Dallas, and most of the Mavs good results are due to his phenomenal performances. In the upcoming match, he is expected to once more put up good numbers, especially with Irving out of the picture. Despite Doncic phenomenal performances, Dallas is still in bad form, losing 9 out of last10 away games. On the bright side, they have won their most recent away game against Charlotte Hornets (84:122). As of now, Dallas is 10th in the West with an overall record of 18-19 and a 3-2 record in their last 5 games.
Dallas is coming from a blowout win against Pelicans which was much needed after their poor performances in away games. Their 1-9 record in last 10 away games must be addressed, as it looks worse as it really is. They have been playing against league-best teams; Thunder, Trail Blazers, GSW, Nuggets, with all of their losses being with rather small margins, with an exception of a loss against Thunder on 1st of January (122:102). In that regard, we can say there are some bright points in all those defeats. The next match is expected to be a highly entertaining one, as both teams have got the players who can go off and score plenty of points. With Irving out for the next match, Boston is slightly weakened, but I don’t expect their overall performance to suffer a lot. We won’t be betting on either of the teams, but will rather look at Over/under markets. The line is set at 215 points, which I believe can be easily reached from what we have seen in the recent matches from Boston as well as Dallas.
Prediction: Over 215.00 points
Odds: 1.95 Matchbook and 5Dimes
