NBA: Boston Celtics VS Brooklyn Nets Pick and Predictions 12/04/2022

Game: 6:10 PM ET,  Sunday, December 4th, 2022

Venue: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York

Where to Watch: NBA League Pass

Celtics: 18-5, 1st place Eastern Conference

Nets: 13-11, 6th place Eastern Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread: (will update)

PointsBet: Point Spread: 

Fanduel: Point Spread: 

Celtics: PF Jayson Tatum, SF Jaylen Brown, C Al Horford, SG Derrick White, PG Marcus Smart

Nets: PF Royce O’Neale, SF Kevin Durant, C Nic Claxton, PG Kyrie Irving, SG Joe Harris

An Eastern Conference matchup of the best team in the league VS two of the best players in the league.  The Boston Celtics win basketball games.  They lead the league in scoring.  The two best Celtics players PF/SF Jayson Tatum and SF/SG Jaylen Brown are all-stars firmly in their “primes”... The Celtics roster took two very hard blows before this season even began by missing C Robert Williams III to offseason surgery and the rehab that will keep him out until mid-Dec, possibly later.  The Celtics also signed PF Danilo Gallinari over the offseason to add his sweet shooting and scoring abilities… and he blew out his knee and will not play at all this season… they were forced to scramble and sign PF Blake Griffin to fill minutes off the bench at PF…none of it seems to matter. The Celtics keep winning at the highest rate in the league.  The Celtics' depth is such that they are missing guys until later… will only make them eventually better than GREAT.  The Brooklyn Nets have no depth of any substance whatsoever.  They do however have SF Kevin Durant.  Kevin has been a top-2 player in the league… sometimes top-3… and he is certainly an all-time scorer that can go off at any time with a mix of amazing shooting, big frame, dazzling moves in the post, and full ability to drive the lane with the best of em’.  KD is the real deal.  KD is paired with PG Kyrie Irving… who occasionally makes news for being a bad teammate, bad employee, and sometimes bad person…. He is not a bad point guard.  In fact he may be one of the best PGs who has ever strapped on shoes.  Too bad his personality will leave his legacy with so many question marks “what if he had played in the bubble?”... “what if he didn’t take games off for birthday parties?” “What if he wasn’t such a flake?”... “What if he stopped embarrassing himself and the league and simply focused on basketball?”.. None of those questions will ever have satisfying answers… What we do know is that he is still capable of dropping 30 points in a basketball game.. He is still capable of leaving defenders with broken ankles and pride. Maybe he could hold it together for a few wins? Outside of KD and Kyrie the Nets have very little depth or quality. They are again hoping KD and Kyrie will be enough… especially with Ben Simmons out for a month with knee problems.

The Boston Celtics have won 8 of their last 10 games.  They lost their last game to the Miami Heat which looked purely to be a product of fatigue.  In the 120-116 overtime loss to Miami, the Celtics got 37 points and 14 rebounds from SF Jaylen Brown, 18 pts from PG Marcus Smart, 18 pts from PF Grant Williams… but Jayson Tatum had a very off game with 14 points and 12 rebounds while missing 7  3-pointers.  Jayson’s off game was the ultimate demise.  Jayson had hit 40 points multiple times over the last 10 games… Al Horford had an off-game and Malcolm Brogdon had an off-game.  It was all fatigue.  That is often overcome after a loss by a simple night's sleep.

The Brooklyn Nets are on a 4-game winning streak.  It has allowed them to rise in the standings.. It also raised them above .500 on the season.  They won their last game against the Toronto Raptors 114-105 as they got 27 points from PG Kyrie Irving, 17, 9, 7 from SF Kevin Durant, and 4 other guys in double figures.  The Nets win was nice but also was more about the Raptors ineptness on defense.  Kyrie broke down Fred VanVleet, Scottie Barnes, and Gary Trent Jr regularly throughout.  

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BOS: 18-5, 14-9 ATS, 14-8-1 O/U, 7-3 in road games.

BKN: 13-11, 10-12-2 ATS, 9-15 O/U, 8-4 in home games.

The Celtics are 1st in scoring with 121.6 points per game, 25th in rebounds with 41.9 per game, 2nd in AST/TO ratio with 2.0, and 13th in blocks per game with 5.0

The Nets are 18th in scoring with 111.7 points per game, 28th in rebounds with 40 per game, 8th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8, and 1st in blocks per game with 7.2

Our prediction for Sunday, December 4th is….  Celtics 121 - Nets 112

The Celtics should give the Nets the business.  Yes, Durant and Irving could score a ton of combined points… but the Celtics are proving game after game that if you have a real-deal starting five… punctuated by quality all-star players… you will win at an exceptional rate.

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The Celtics are 10-2 ATS after playing a home game.

The Celtics are 1 OVER and 5 UNDER in games where the total is 220 or more this season.

Brooklyn is 0-7 ATS in games where the total is 230 or more this season.

Celtics: SF/PF Jayson Tatum.  Tatum is coming off a good game that is also his worst game of the season.  He will bounce back with lots of points.  You can put money on that.

Nets:  SG Joe Harris.  People forget that Joe was a big part of this team’s plans before he missed a season to injury. Joe is supposed to be a big time shooter and if he comes on as expected the team can trade Seth Curry.

Celtics: Joe “I was surprised by my job” Mazzulla

Nets: Jacque “I got my job all of a sudden like” Vaughn