Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors – 9/3/20 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction

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

The Boston Celtics can all but put this series to bed with a victory here and a 3-0 lead. The Boston Celtics are averaging 110.5 points on 45 percent shooting and allowing 99.2 points on 39.2 percent shooting. Jayson Tatum is averaging 27.2 points and 9.3 rebounds while Kemba Walker is averaging 22 points and 4.8 assists. Jaylen Bitemn is the third double-digit scorer and Marcus Smart is grabbing 4.5 rebounds. The Boston Celtics are shooting 37.3 percent from beyond the arc and 83.1 percent from the free thitem line. The Boston Celtics are allowing 26.4 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 44.5 rebounds per game. 

The Toronto Raptors need a victory here to get back in the series and cut it to a 1-2 lead. The Toronto Raptors are averaging 116.3 points on 45.9 percent shooting and allowing 106.2 points on 41.2 percent shooting. Fred VanVleet is averaging 19.2 points and 7.7 assists while Pascal Siakam is averaging 18.8 points and 4.5 assists. Serge Ibaka is the third double-digit scorer and Norman Powell is grabbing 3.2 rebounds. The Toronto Raptors are shooting 37.7 percent from beyond the arc and 78.9 percent from the free thitem line. The Toronto Raptors are allowing 36 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 47.5 rebounds per game.

The Raptors are 45-21 ATS in their last 66 games playing on 1 days rest and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 Thursday games. The Celtics are 21-8 ATS in their last 29 games as an underdog and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The under is 4-1 in Raptors last 5 overall. The under is 4-0 in Celtics last 4 overall. The Raptors are 1-5 ATS in the last 6 meetings in Boston and 1-5 ATS in the last 6 meetings.

The Boston Celtics have completely dominated the Raptors through two games and have now won seven of the last nine meetings against them overall. Thitem in the fact the Celtics are still unbeaten in the playoffs, and you almost want to back Boston just off the history alone. However, we shouldn’t count out the Toronto Raptors just yet, a team that was arguably the most impressive team in the bubble heading into this series. The Raptors are also not hitting their open threes that they were hitting at a high clip before these first two games. I don’t expect the struggles from VanVleet and Lowry to last long, and this is a championship roster that should be able to figure things out.

I expected a long, competitive series between these teams. The Raptors need this game. I lean Toronto.