The Washington Wizards and the Boston Celtics collide at the TD Garden on Sunday night.
The Washington Wizards have been in decent form as they’ve won six of their last nine games overall, but they will be hoping to snap a two-game skid after falling short against the Heat in a 110-107 road loss on Friday. Kyle Kuzma led the team with 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Bradley Beal added 28 points with five assists on 11 of 20 shooting while Kristaps Porzingis chipped in with 18 points, but no other player finished in double figures in scoring. As a team, the Wizards shot 43 percent from the field and 11 of 39 from the 3-point line as they came out swinging and jumped out to an early lead, but they got next to no support from their bench which cost them in a close contest. Corey Kispert finished with just five points on two of nine shooting while Will Barton shot just one of eight for his five points off the bench.
Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics have been in red-hot form as they’ve won 11 of their last 12 games overall and they will be aiming for a third straight victory after making light work of the Kings in a 122-104 win on Friday. Jayson Tatum led the team with 30 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Jaylen Brown added 25 points on nine of 16 shooting while Derrick White chipped in with 16 points. As a team, the Celtics shot 49 percent from the field and 16 of 37 from the 3-point line as they set the tone with 36 points in the first quarter to open a big lead early and they didn’t panic when the Kings cut into that lead as they held the Kings to just 42 points in the second half to make it look easy in the end.
Looking at the betting trends, the Wizards are 3-1-1 ATS in their last five road games, 5-1 ATS in their last six games against a team with a winning record and 0-4-1 ATS in their last five games overall. The Celtics are 4-1 ATS in their last five home games, 4-0 ATS in their last four games against a team with a winning record and 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall.
Head to head, the under is 8-2 in the last 10 meetings overall and the Wizards are 4-14-1 ATS in the last 19 meetings in Boston.
The Wizards are going to be shorthanded again as Monte Morris and Rui Hachimura are both listed as questionable, while the Celtics will be missing their leading scorer, Jayson Tatum who is out with an ankle sprain. The Wizards were building some good momentum before they lost to the Heat on Friday and they got somewhat lucky as they’ve drawn the Celtics who will be missing Tatum for this one. This should be a close one for most of the game, but when it’s all said and done, I still think the Celtics stay hot with another win despite being shorthanded.