Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers Picks and Predictions Dec 22
Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers Betting Preview
WagerTalk NBA handicapper Andy Lang offers his Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers betting preview for Wednesday, December 22. At the time of posting, Boston is holding steady as a 6.5-point home favorite over the red-hot Cavaliers, with the total rising to 217 points.
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| Wed, Dec 22 | NBA Betting Notes |
|---|---|
| Point Spread: | Boston Celtics -6.5 vs Cleveland Cavaliers |
| Total: | 217 Points |
| Game Time: | 7:40pm ET / 4:40pm PT |
| Arena: | TD Garden in Boston |
| TV: | NBC Sports Boston |
Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers Analysis
The Celtics open up at 6.5-point favorites with a total of 217 at home against the Cavaliers today, and while both teams will be missing players tonight, Cleveland will be a little bit more short handed as they will be without Jarrett Allen, Mobley, and Okoro. Boston will have Tatum and Brown along with Schroder and Smart in the starting lineup, so it would appear Boston has the advantage in firepower tonight.
Cleveland is an ATS machine as they are 23-5 so far this season, and they’ve covered 14 in a row. Those were with their full lineups or course, but the resiliency of this team has been incredible. They have won 10 out of 12 straight up, and their last two games have been convincing wins against teams with depleted rosters while they’ve been depleted as well. Last game against Milwaukee was a 29 point win as Garland and Osman lead the way and that’s big because both will be starting tonight.
Unfortunately, for Cleveland they will be missing their big interior scorers and that’s been the weakness of Boston as of late without Horford in the lineup. The Cleveland defense has been really solid as of late as they’ve held seven out of twelve opponents under 100 points, including the last three games.
Boston has been really bad on the perimeter this season as they give up the second most amount of points to point guards this season, so expect a big game from Garland tonight, and that’s surely contributed to them losing five out of their last seven. This team doesn’t really excel at any one point of the game, and are very reliant on Tatum for their scoring, and although Brown can be an impact player the rest of the roster doesn’t contribute much on a consistent basis.
This lack of consistency, and contributions from the supporting cast makes it too difficult to lay six points against a Cleveland team who is the best ATS team in the league. I’ll take the Cavaliers and the six points tonight as Cleveland keeps piling up ATS wins.
OFFICIAL PLAY: Cavaliers +6.5
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Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers Preview from GoldSheet
Cleveland continues to astound, covering 14 straight games and winning 10 of the last 12 SU heading in to this one, but BJ Bickerstaff’s Cavs had to postpone Sunday’s game against Atlanta because he didn’t have enough healthy players. The Cavs could be down as many as 8 players and note that Boston has a few missing players of its own who are in the Covid protocols. Celtics are only 3-3 SU at the TD Garden recently, and 2-5 SU in its last 7, ranking 23d in offensive efficiency in its last 7 games, while Cleveland ranks first defensively in the same segment…but that was with the intimidating frontline duo of C Jarrett Allen and PF Evan Mobley were both swatting shots and grabbing boards for Cleveland. Allen is out and Mobley is iffy for this trip to Boston.
The Celtics will be without backup G Josh Richardson and could be without PF Al Horford and both his backups (Grant Williams and Jabari Parker), as all 3 are in quarantine. We’ll see what happens here (game could be a complete scratch) hard to oppose red-hot Cavs, but Boston is 8-1 SU and 7-2 vs. the number last 9 in the series and apparently will have the services of stars G Jaylen Brown and F Jayson Tatum are available along with fellow regular Marcus Smart, sixth man Dennis Schroder and possibly even C Robert Williams, who has been down for a while.
Wednesday’s NBA Stat Sheet
Each day, WagerTalk handicapper Ralph Michaels puts together his NBA Stat Sheet, which offers a head-to-head comparison for how teams are performing in a number of key areas heading into a game. Click here to download Wednesday’s sheet, with notes on tonight’s Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers contest.
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