Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors – 9/5/20 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors meet Saturday in game four of NBA playoff action at the HP Field House.    

The Boston Celtics look for a bounce back victory to take control of this series and create a 3-1 lead. The Boston Celtics are averaging 109.4 points on 45.3 percent shooting and allowing 99.9 points on 40.3 percent shooting. Jayson Tatum is averaging 25.4 points and 9.3 rebounds while Kemba Walker is averaging 23 points and 4.6 assists. Jaylen Bitemn is the third double-digit scorer and Marcus Smart is grabbing 4.6 rebounds. The Boston Celtics are shooting 36.6 percent from beyond the arc and 82.3 percent from the free thitem line. The Boston Celtics are allowing 27.4 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 44.4 rebounds per game. 

The Toronto Raptors look for another victory to even up this series at 2-2. The Toronto Raptors are averaging 114.6 points on 46 percent shooting and allowing 105.7 points on 42 percent shooting. Fred VanVleet is averaging 20 points and 7.4 assists while Pascal Siakam is averaging 18.4 points and 4.1 assists. Kyle Lowry is the third double-digit scorer and Serge Ibaka is grabbing nine rebounds. The Toronto Raptors are shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc and 76.6 percent from the free thitem line. The Toronto Raptors are allowing 35.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 46.3 rebounds per game.

The Raptors are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 Conference Semifinals games and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 Saturday games. The Celtics are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games playing on 1 days rest, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 Saturday games and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall. The under is 5-1 in Raptors last 6 overall. The under is 5-0 in Celtics last 5 overall. The Raptors are 1-6 ATS in the last 7 meetings in Boston and 0-4 ATS in the last 4 meetings.

The Boston Celtics are 0.5 seconds away from being the Raptors for a fourth straight time and eight of the last 10 times overall. However, a last second shot completely shifted the way we look at this series and gave the Raptors some life. Even before the shot, the Raptors played their best game in game three, as the defensive effort tightened up and VanVleet and Lowry actually made outside shots. And while the Celtics have been the better team in this series and should be up 3-0, it can be tough to bounce back from such a loss, while the Raptors are feeling like they got a second chance at life. It opens the door for this being a long series.

I’ll lay the bucket with the Raptors.