The Boston Celtics will be trying to extend their winning streak to six games when they visit the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night. Boston, which has also won nine of its last 10 overall, is coming off a 118-105 home victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday. Toronto continued its four-game homestand by beating the Phoenix Suns 127-109 this past weekend. With Celtics vs. Raptors starting at 7:00 pm ET on Tuesday night, it’s time to break down the matchup and discuss the best bets to make.
Predictions
- Pick #1: Toronto Raptors +9.5 over Boston Celtics (-110)
- Pick #2: Under 229.5 (-110)
PICK #1: Raptors +9.5 Over Celtics (-110)
Although Boston is hot right now, Toronto has reasons to like its chances of at least being competitive on Tuesday. The Raptors have home-court advantage, they are also playing quite well at the moment and have accounted themselves respectably in the head-to-head matchup so far this season.
Head coach Darko Rajakovic’s crew is a respectable 13-18 inside Scotiabank Arena in 2024-25 compared to 5-21 on the road. The Raptors’ last two outings – both at home – saw them extend the Miami Heat to overtime before destroying Phoenix by 18 points. Toronto has hosted Boston once this season and cruised to a 110-97 victory on January 15. The Celtics still lead the overall series 2-1, but they required overtime to defeat the Raptors 126-123 at TD Garden on November 16.
Boston is in fine form, but from an individual standpoint, there have been some underwhelming scenes of late. Jayson Tatum hasn’t been able to throw it in the ocean over the last two games (13-for-33 from the floor, 5-for-17 from three-point range) and he has made more than 50 percent of his field-goal attempts just twice since the calendar turned to 2025. Kristaps Porzingis (19.3 ppg) has scored below his season average in seven of the last eight contests. All things considered, Toronto has a good chance to cover.
PICK #2: Under 229.5(-110)
An under bet correlates nicely with Toronto against the spread, as the underdogs probably wouldn’t be able to keep pace with Boston in a high-scoring shootout. After all, the Raptors rank ninth in the Eastern Conference and tied for 22nd in the NBA overall at 110.9 points per game. They also have to face an opponent that ranks third in the association in scoring defense (108.0 ppg allowed).
Part of the reason why the Celtics limit the opposition to such a small number is that they play at a slow pace. They are 25th in the NBA in possessions per game (101.2) and over the past three outings they rank second-to-last in that department at 97.5. The Raptors will likely be more than content to match that kind of style in this matchup and shorten the game against a clearly superior squad.
Only 207 total points were scored in the most recent meeting between these two teams, and in the game before that, Toronto put up a grand total of 71 points. The home team will probably score a lot more than that in the series finale, but perhaps not enough for the over to hit.
