Filip Tomic
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The LA Lakers and Boston Celtics renew their historic rivalry once again as they meet up for the first time this season at TD Garden on Friday night.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30pm ET as part of tonight’s ESPN doubleheader. We’ve looked at some of the best bets and prepared a same-game parlay.
Be sure to also check our predictions on the side and total for the rest of Friday’s 9-game slate.
Let’s dive in!
LA Lakers -4.5 (+186)
Jayson Tatum under 26.5 points (-116)
Marcus Smart under 1.5 made threes (-132)
Parlay odds: +636
LA Lakers -4.5 (+186)
The Lakers have struggled a bit recently, but only because they’ve played without their best player, LeBron James. According to latest reports he could very well be back in their lineup for tonight’s game as the medical staff has listed him as a game-time decision. With LeBron back in the mix this is a completely different team. Before he went out the Lakers had a 5-3 record and were on a run of 5 wins in 6 games. The Celtics have had their issues with injuries as well. At home they are just 2-3 this season and are struggling to find consistency with Jaylen Brown being out for the majority of this month with a hamstring injury. With a healthy LeBron James I expect the Lakers to show up big-time, and this price is too good to pass up.
Make sure you also check out our Friday NBA mega parlay (+586 odds!)
Jayson Tatum under 26.5 points (-116)
The struggles of Jayson Tatum have been well documented this season. During November he has shot the ball at just 39.3% from the field and 36.6% from 3-point land. He’s averaging only 24.2 points per game and has gone under 26.5 points in 4 of his last 6 games. He’s scored under 26.5 points 6 times in 9 games this month. With his back-court mate Jaylen Brown out, opposing defenses focus solely on stopping him and he hasn’t been able to find a way to score consistently. Although the Lakers aren’t exactly known for their defense, they can at least make Tatum take difficult shots tonight and he hasn’t been knocking them down this season.
Marcus Smart under 1.5 made threes (-132)
Smart has been focused way more on assisting than scoring for the Celtics this season. His 3-point shooting has been off for quite some time. During the first 2 months of the season he is shooting only 26% from deep and has gone over 1.5 made threes just 4 times this season in 14 games played. In his last 3 games he has shot 0-for-4 against Atlanta, 1-for-5 against Cleveland and 0-for-2 against Cleveland. The Lakers rank 11th in opponent 3-point percentage, holding teams to just 33.3% shooting from deep in away games. That should be good enough to keep Smart from draining more than 1 shot tonight.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Los Angeles Lakers vs Boston Celtics!
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