The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors will play an afternoon special at TD Garden in Boston on New Year’s Eve. There is no way to sugarcoat it – the Raptors’ 2024-25 campaign has been a complete disaster. They head into Tuesday with a 7-25 record, making them better than only the Washington Wizards (5-24) and New Orleans Pelicans (5-27). Things don’t appear to be improving, either, as Toronto is currently in the midst of a 10-game losing streak. At the other end of the spectrum is Boston, which boasts a 23-9 record – third best in the NBA behind just the Cleveland Cavaliers (27-4) and Oklahoma City Thunder (26-5). The Celtics are looking to emerge from a brief funk, as Sunday’s setback against the Indiana Pacers dropped them to 2-3 in their last five outings. With Tuesday’s contest tipping off at 3:00 pm ET, it’s time to break down the matchup and discuss the best bets to make.
- PICK #1: TORONTO RAPTORS +14.5 OVER BOSTON CELTICS (-110)
- PICK #2: OVER 226 (-110)
PICK #1: Raptors +14.5 over Celtics (-110)
On paper, the Raptors should not be as bad as their record suggests. They have plenty of promising youth on their roster and they are also relatively deep. Immanuel Quickley has been sidelined for most of the season, but Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Gradey Dick are promising pieces with tons of potential.
Barrett is the team’s leading scorer at 23.4 points per game, Barnes comes in at 19.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg and 7.1 apg and Dick is contributing 17.6 ppg. The defending NBA champion Celtics have cooled off a bit following a hot start to their title defense. What is especially alarming is that they have lost four of their last six contests inside TD Garden, so home-court advantage on Tuesday may not be so significant. Moreover, Jrue Holiday (shoulder) and Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) are dealing with injuries and their status against Toronto is uncertain.
The Raptors may not win this one outright, but they should keep it somewhat respectable.
PICK #2: Over 226 (-110)
If there is one thing the Raptors can do, it’s score the basketball. Their record may be superior to only two other teams in the association, but they are putting up more points per game than 16 other teams. That’s right; Toronto is in the top half of the association in scoring.
What you have to like most about this squad is that a whopping eight players are averaging double-figures in the points-per-game department. Even if you remove Bruce Brown (one game played) and Quickley (three games played) from that equation, there are still six guys scoring at least 10.3 ppg. It’s also worth noting that Brown just returned from a knee injury and delivered 12 points in his season debut on Sunday. Whereas the Raptors play at the fifth-fastest place in the NBA in terms of possessions per game, the Celtics score a lot because of their efficiency.
Their 119.5 ppg average is good for second in the Eastern Conference and fourth in the league. They are attempting a ridiculous 50.7 three-pointers per contest and making them at a 36.4 percent clip, so it’s no surprise that they lead the league in triples by a mile (18.4 per game).
Combine that with Toronto’s NBA-worst shooting defense over the past three outings (53.4 percent) and Tuesday’s showdown has all the makings of a high-scoring affair.
