by Chuck Sommers
Sunday, Mar 26, 2023
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Venue: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Where to watch: NBC Sports Boston, BSSW-SA
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Celtics -16
BetMGM: Celtics -16
Caesars: Celtics -16
Season record
Spurs: 19-55
Celtics: 51-23
The All-Star break is over in the NBA and it's time to get on the horse and finish up the final home stretch of the season. Big trades, uncertainty, and absolute hilarity across the board all gearing up for the final home stretch of this season. You know who is also gearing up for the home stretch? Our champion handicappers at bigal.com who are ready to win their way all the way to the playoffs. There's a lot going on that we can't wait for in these final 23-25 games and you're going to need every bit of hardcore analysis you can get from this group. Just in the last 30 days we've had some big winners. Doc's Sports has posted a 16-6-0 record in the last month (+$9,200). AAA Sports has killed it at 17-8-0, and then Al McMordie with a dominant 20-11-1 mark over the last 30 days. Everything you need to know and more about what's going on this league and sports in general will be a fun finish to the end. All you have to do is go to bigal.com and find our Best Bets page and put forth something that only you think is good. Here's a hint: Go to the bigal.com website and happy betting.
Spurs - Celtics preview, prediction and analysis
The Boston Celtics have eight regular season games remaining, and they might need to win them all if they have hopes of entering the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Boston will play the first of those eight games Sunday when it faces a visiting the San Antonio Spurs.
The Celtics (51-23) have won six of their past eight games and are chasing Milwaukee for the NBA's best record. The Bucks entered Saturday night's game at Denver with a 53-20 record and 2 1/2 games ahead of the Celtics. Five of Boston's remaining games will be played at home.
The Celtics received strong games from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Friday night's 120-95 triumph over Indiana. Tatum scored a game-high 34 points in the victory, and Brown finished with 27. Each player had seven rebounds.
Tatum reached at least 30 points in a game for the 40th time this season.
"I think they're both finding a great balance of being dominant players and being team players," Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. "I just think when they do that our team's different. Right now, they're very committed to being both.
"Our guys have great poise about how this season goes and I think they're in a good place right now."
Brown said he's been trying to provide the team with even more at each end of the court.
"Just playing with more of a sense of urgency, and two, just being more communicative and just trying to get guys going and get guys to be aggressive and just being a leader out there," Brown said. "I think that's key. Playing the game the right way (and) encouraging our guys to be aggressive and doing what they do best."
The Spurs (19-55) have been playing shorthanded lately, but Keldon Johnson returned to the court after missing two games with a neck strain and turned in a strong performance during Friday night's 136-124 loss to Washington. Johnson tossed in 30 points, had 10 rebounds and added four assists in 31 minutes.
The Spurs were without starters Devin Vassell (knee injury management), rookie Jeremy Sochan (knee) and Zach Collins (bruised bicep), as well as backup Romeo Langford (adductor injury management).
"We got to play a lot of guys, a lot of guys got minutes, we got a good look at a lot of them," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "And we just feel great about the effort they give every night."
Sunday's game will be the final stop on a four-game road trip for San Antonio, which has lost three in a row and five of its past six.
The Spurs were also missing three starters the last time they played the Celtics, but still managed to put up a good fight. Boston received a 34-point performance from Tatum and pulled out a 121-116 victory in San Antonio on Jan. 7.
Prediction
The Spurs have been playing well against top competition. Just not good enough to win games. Celtics 130, Spurs 110
Projected starting lineup
Spurs:
PG: Tre Jones
SG: Devin Vassell
SF: Keldon Johnson
PF: Keita Bates-Diop
C: Zach Collins
Celtics:
PG: Marcus Smart
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Al Horford
C: Robert Williams III
Don't miss our champion handicappers' free picks and expert basketball picks today. And if you enjoyed this preview, be sure to drop by every day for our daily NBA/college basketball projections and previews.
Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
