The Boston Celtics invade the Staples Center to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
The Boston Celtics have been in great form as they’ve won six of their past nine games and they will be looking to stay hot after making light work of the shorthanded Trail Blazers in a 145-117 road win on Saturday. Jayson Tatum led the team with 31 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, Dennis Schroder added 31 points and eight assists, Payton Pritchard provided the spark off the bench with 19 points in 18 minutes while Marcus Smart chipped in with 17 points. As a team, the Celtics shot a sizzling 56 percent from the field and 21 of 37 from the 3-point line as they set the tone with 38 points in the first quarter to take the early double-digit lead, before exploding for 81 points in the second half to lead by as many as 31 points at one stage.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers have been in a slump as they’ve lost six of their past 10 games and they will be hoping to bounce back after having their two-game win streak halted by the Clippers in a 119-115 home loss on Friday. Anthony Davis led the team with 27 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, LeBron James tallied 23 points with 11 rebounds and six assists while Malik Monk provided the spark off the bench with 20 points on eight of 15 shooting. As a team, the Lakers shot 50 percent from the field and 12 of 33 from the 3-point line as they fought hard to cut a 12-point deficit to just one point with 2:15 left on the clock, before coming up just short as the Clippers’ Luke Kennard drained two clutch 3-pointers in the final 1:12 to snatch the game from them late.
Looking at the betting trends, the Celtics are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 road games, 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games playing on two days’ rest and 12-5 ATS in their last 17 games overall. The Lakers are 8-21 ATS in their last 29 home games, 1-8 ATS in their last nine games against a team with a winning record and 2-6 ATS in their last eight games overall.
Head to head, the over is 7-1 in the last eight meetings overall, the Celtics are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings in Los Angeles and the Celtics are 6-0 ATS in the last six meetings overall.
The Lakers could be severely shorthanded here as Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are all listed as day to day while the Celtics are sweating on the availability of Jaylen Brown who is questionable for this one. The Celtics are coming into this one with plenty of momentum after pouring in 145 points against the Trail Blazers in their last outing and they are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 road games and 6-0 ATS in the last six meetings against the Lakers. Give me the Celtics to pull off the minor upset behind a big game from Tatum.