NBA: Boston Celtics VS Brooklyn Nets Pick and Predictions 01/12/2023

Game: 7:30 PM ET,  Thursday, January 12th, 2023

Venue:  Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York

TV:  TNT

Celtics: 29-12, 1st place Eastern Conference

Nets: 27-13, 2nd place Eastern Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  (will update)

PointsBet: Point Spread: 

Fanduel: Point Spread: 

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

Nets: PF Royce O'Neale, SF TJ Warren, C Nic Claxton, SG Ben Simmons, PG Kyrie Irving

An Eastern Conference battle of the big boys.  This is the matchup we have been waiting for…. Big Time Rivals… At the same time they are ranked #1 and #1 in the conference.  Is this a Conference Finals Preview?... Is this a make or break team for either squad?  Will I make a winning wager for a full unit?  The Boston Celtics have been the cream of the crop for the whole league almost all season… but the Nets used a long winning streak (longest in the league) to catch up enough to be right on their heels… and the Denver Nuggets out West have used an amazing winning percentage since Christmas to catch rival for “cream of the crop”.  At this point in the season the Celtics are lucky to be getting back to full health… but since they are almost there… They are fairly safe.  The Brooklyn Nets took lots of lumps early this season when the mild drama of Ben Simmons continued for a while and the raging typhoon of Kyrie Irving drama almost completely broke the team apart.  The waters calmed and the team leaned heavily on Kevin Durant to fix it all… and he has for the most part.  The best pure offensive weapon in the league (Durant) put the team on his shoulders and pulled off 13 wins in a row.  The Nets core is what they started the season as… A mismatched trio of amazingly talented players.  If they can keep off the court off the court and on the court on the court… They are a powerful contender to win it all… If they can’t… This is the absolute last version of this trio we will see together.  The great betting opportunity here will be found in the very recent trends and the injury report.  Let’s check the numbers and win a bet.

The Boston Celtics are on a 3-game winning streak.  They have won 6 of their last 10 games.  They will need to cruise at a high winning percentage to hold off the Nets and keep their first place spot.  The absolute best chance to keep that spot is of course winning head to head matchups.  A head to head between #1 and #2 is a full game swing… You need all of those you can get.  In their last game the Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 107-99…, which was a loss ATS which was set at -9.5 in favor of the Celtics.  In the win Tatum tried to keep pace in the MVP race as Jokic in the West keeps pulling away… Tatum had 32 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. He also got 19 points of support from SG Jaylen Brown and 20 points from PF Grant Williams. They play New Orleans tonight and will be getting an easy win off the injury riddled Pelicans… but they will come into the Nets game a little tired.

The Brooklyn Nets have won 9 of their last 10 games and are on a 2-game winning streak.  They just barely pulled out a win against the Miami Heat in their last game 102-101.  A loss against the spread… but why was the spread only -2 in favor of the Nets?... Well because Kevin Durant is sidelined with a knee injury until mid-february.. It’s an MCL sprain!!  And it may be the injury that allows the front office to trade Kyrie finally.  Kyrie is not worth a lot on the open market but the Nets will want to get out from under him if they get even a hint of bad news in Durant’s rehab.  Chicago may want Kyrie because they can’t rely on Lonzo Ball… Dallas may want Kyrie because Luka needs a Robin to his Batman… Outside of that… he doesn’t have much value because of his flighty personality and ability to constantly embarrass whatever team he plays for.  In the win over the Heat Kyrie had 29 points and 6 assists… If it was just about the numbers 20 teams in the NBA would want Kyrie.

 

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BOS: 29-12, 21-19-1 ATS, 21-19-1 O/U, 13-7 in road games.

BK:  27-13, 19-19-2 ATS, 17-23 O/U, 13-5 in ho0me games.

The Celtics are 2nd in scoring with 118.5 points per game, 11th in rebounds with 44 per game, 1st in AST/TO ratio with 2.0, and 5th in blocked shots with 5.4 per game.

The Nets are 14th in scoring with 114.6 points per game, 29th in rebounds with 40.5 per game, 8th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8, and 1st in blocked shots with 7.0 per game.

Our prediction for Thursday, January 12th is…. Celtics 121 - Nets 111

The Nets will be playing without SF Kevin Durant against the best team in the league.  They will lose.  They will get a big game out of PG Kyrie Irving because they are playing the Celtics… but they will not have a leader on the floor… anywhere.  “Bet on the Celtics” as long as the spread doesn’t hit double digits (which it shouldn’t)... If the spread is bigger than double digits because of the Durant injury… skip the bet entirely.

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Brooklyn is 6-1 ATS when playing on 3 days rest the last 3 seasons.

Brooklyn is 13-6 ATS when the total is 220-229.5 this season.

Boston is 3 Over and 10 Under as a road favorite of 6 points or less this season.

Celtics: SF Jayson Tatum.  Going against the hated Brooklyn Nets who will be playing without Kevin Durant… That means green light for Jayson!  The MVP is barely out of reach… games like these could bring it a bot closer.

Nets:  PG Kyrie Irving. Kyrie is now the best player on the team… and he is the worst possible guy in the league to lead and inspire teammates.  He will shoot too much.  He will score a lot of points while the light in his teammates eyes will dim as they begin to wonder how their resume looks?

Celtics: Joe “Get to Know me” Mazzula

Nets: Jacque “where did Steve go?” Vaughn