Game Time: 1:00 PM ET, Sunday, March 6th, 2022 

Venue:  TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

Where to Watch: ABC

DraftKings:  Spread:  Celtics -4 O/U 227.5

Fanduel:  Spread:  Celtics -4.5 O/U 227

ESPN:  Spread: 

Nets: 32-32, 8th place Eastern Conference

Celtics: 38-27, 5th place Eastern Conference

An Eastern Conference matchup with tons of intrigue.  Will the Nets ever find their way back to being a capable winning team that can support the best scorer in the league?... Will the Celtics maintain the roll they have been on and ride it to the Eastern Conference Finals?  The Brooklyn Nets were thought of as NBA Finals “sure things” when they completed the master move of bringing together SF Kevin Durant, PG Kyrie Irving, and finally a bit later James Harden.  It didn’t work.  It didn’t work almost entirely because selfish former star player PG Kyrie Irving refused to be vaccinated… meaning he couldn’t join the team this season.  Kevin Durant and James Harden played pretty well without Kyrie… getting all the way to the #2 spot in the East… Then the team started allowing Kyrie Irving to join them on road games… where he did not need to be vaccinated?... except in Toronto.  This caused some bristling with James Harden who had already decided he couldn’t stand Kyrie.  Then Kevin Durant went down with a knee injury… a scary thing for a player who has missed a full season already with a knee injury.  So it became James Harden by himself in home games with a very thin supporting cast around him… and James Harden with Kyrie Irving in road games with a very thin supporting cast around them.  Harden saw the writing on the wall and forced his way out… er, in rather.  Harden forced his way in to Philadelphia.  The Nets got Ben Simmons from the 76ers… a star player who is in the Kyrie Irving camp of simply not caring whether he plays or misses games… In fact, since the trade Ben is cited as being just a few short WEEKS away from joining the team, he still needs to recover from not playing while being perfectly healthy all season long.   So now Kevin Durant has rejoined a team that is in 8th place… a single loss away from falling below .500.  Only now he has doubled the number of flaky former all-stars on his squad.  The Celtics started the season rough, but have turned it on since New Years.  They have been steadily rising from a shockingly bad 10th place to 5th place all the while winning and winning.  SG Jaylen Brown and SF Jayson Tatum are legit star players… the team around them is suitable against any team.  The constant worry about finding the right point guard (which was also derailed by flaky Kyrie Irving), or the right third star… or maybe Jayson and Jaylen should be split up?... Is all silliness.  The Celtics are a good team now and they just need to push the role players like PG Marcus Smart, backup PF Grant Williams, new combo guard Derrick White to a more consistent level of play.

The Brooklyn Nets have won just 3 of their last ten games.  They went 5-4-1 ATS during that stretch… They are on a 3-game losing streak after losing back to back games to the Toronto Raptors and then dropping one in Miami to the Heat.  The Brooklyn Nets have only had Kevin Durant back for 1 game and are still missing PG Kyrie Irving, positionless Ben Simmons and SG Joe Harris.  There is an outside chance that all three guys rejoin the team on a full time basis in time for a “play-in” game and playoff run.  They have the makings of a great team… just not the playing time to be great.  They are a very poor betting opportunity at the moment because we just don’t know who is going to show up and play… and if it will be enough.

The Boston Celtics have won 8 of their last ten games.  The big one of course was the win over the Memphis Grizzlies… One team on a run beat another team on a run.  SF Jayson Tatum had 37 points with a huge fourth quarter.  PG Marcus Smart didn’t contain Memphis’s Ja Morant, but did play him tougher than anyone else in over a month.  C Robert Williams III is right on the cusp of being that 3rd star.  At 10 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2 blocks and 2 assists Robert Williams III is the key… he really needs to get those rebounds or those points up… Pick one and commit.

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Brooklyn is 32-32 on the season, but 25-37-2 ATS.  They have logged 32 Overs, 31 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 19-14 in road games.

The Boston Celtics are 38-27 on the season, but 33-31-1 ATS.  They have notched 28 Overs, 35 Unders, and 2 Push.  They are 22-11 in home games.

The Nets are 11th in scoring at 110.6 ppg.  They are 19th on defense while allowing 111.6 ppg from opponents.

The Celtics are 17th in scoring at 109.3 ppg.  They are 3rd on defense while holding opponents to 103.8 ppg.  

Our prediction for Sunday, March 6th is….  Celtics 118 - Nets 110

The Celtics will win.  Pay close attention to the spread.  Because of Brooklyn’s recent losses the spread may take a wild swing… Still it may be the first game to pair Kyrie and KD in awhile… then we will get to see how both do together alongside new players like Seth Curry, Goran Dragic, and Andre Drummond.

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5 of 6 games in this series have gone Over the last 3 seasons.
Brooklyn is 34-22 ATS versus Boston at Boston since 1996.
Brooklyn is 10-5 ATS versus Boston over the last 3 seasons.

Nets:  Kyrie Irving Quest ** Joe Harris (ankle) Out ** Ben Simmons (back) Out

Celtics: SG Jaylen Brown (ankle) Quest

Nets: SF Bruce Brown, PF Kevin Durant, C Andre Drummond, PG Goran Dragic, SG Seth Curry

Celtics: PF Al Horford, C Robert Williams III, SF Jayson Tatum, SG Jaylen Brown, PG Marcus Smart