Brooklyn Nets at Boston Celtics 12/18/20: NBA Basketball free preview, analysis, prediction, odds and pick against the spread.
2020-12-18 20:00:00 EDT
The Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics meet Friday in NBA preseason action at the TD Garden.
The Brooklyn Nets look for a win after beating the Wizards on Sunday. The Brooklyn Nets are averaging 119 points on 51.4 percent shooting and allowing 114 points on 43.3 percent shooting. Kyrie Irving is averaging 18 points and four assists while Kevin Durant is averaging 15 points and three rebounds. Landry Shamet is the third double-digit scorer and Taurean Prince is grabbing two rebounds. The Brooklyn Nets are shooting 46.7 percent from beyond the arc and 64.4 percent from the free thitem line. The Brooklyn Nets are allowing 37.8 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 41 rebounds per game.
The Boston Celtics look for a win after losing to the 76ers on Tuesday. The Boston Celtics are averaging 99 points on 43.4 percent shooting and allowing 108 points on 47.1 percent shooting. Jeff Teague is averaging 18 points and one assist while Payton Pritchard is averaging 16 points and four rebounds. Jayson Tatum is the third double-digit scorer and Aaron Nesmith is grabbing five rebounds. The Boston Celtics are shooting 28.2 percent from beyond the arc and 72.7 percent from the free thitem line. The Boston Celtics are allowing 24.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 42 rebounds per game.
The Nets are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 road games and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games as a favorite. The Celtics are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Friday games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games. The Nets are 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings. The over is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings in Boston and 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.
The Brooklyn Nets looked really good in their first preseason game, and Durant mentioned he wants to play a lot in the final meeting to make sure he’s feeling good entering the regular season. The Boston Celtics didn’t play much defense their first time out, and now they’re going up against a high level scoring team. I have no choice but to lay the bucket with the Nets here, assuming Durant really plays at least 25 minutes or so.
