Celtics-76ers Odds: Boston Heavily Favored In Season Opener Vs. Philly
The Boston Celtics will look to kick off the 2015-16 NBA season on a winning note when they play host to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night as big 11-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Expectations are on the rise in Boston since the Celtics qualified for the playoffs as a No. 7 seed last spring. However, a fast start is key this season for the Celtics, who recovered to win 40 games last season after stumbling to a 4-11 start. Boston sports -130 odds at the sportsbooks of winning OVER 44.5 games in the season ahead.
Boston also enters Wednesday night’s Sixers vs. Celtics betting matchup at TD Garden with 2-1 odds to win the Atlantic Division but remains a distant 100-1 on the odds to win the NBA championship.
The Sixers posted an 18-64 record last season, which ended with 10 consecutive losses for them. The club’s rebuild also took a hit with news that 2014 third overall draft pick Joel Embiid will have to wait another year to make his NBA debut after undergoing surgery on a lingering foot injury.
With the addition of this year’s third overall pick, center Jahlil Okafor, who arrived at camp as a 7-2 favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors, and former Michigan Wolverines standout Nik Stauskas, the 76ers are expected to show improvement but remain 66-1 long shots on the Atlantic Division odds.
The Celtics have had the upper hand in recent meetings with Philadelphia, picking up straight-up (SU) and against-the-spread (ATS) wins in four contests last season and going 7-3 SU and ATS over their last 10 meetings.
The Toronto Raptors visit the Celtics on Friday night in the first of four clashes between the expected front-runners in the Atlantic Division.
The Raptors open the campaign as two-time defending champions in the division and are short 1-2 favorites to pull off the divisional three-peat but sit back at 50-1 odds to win their first NBA crown. Boston has won close decisions in its last two meetings with Toronto but is just 3-7 SU in its last 10 meetings, going 2-2 SU and ATS at home.
The Celtics wrap up their opening-week schedule with a Sunday afternoon date with the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs have beaten Boston in seven consecutive games, going 1-5-1 ATS, and will be hungry for redemption following a disappointing first-round playoff exit last season. The 2014 NBA champions open the season trailing only favored Cleveland on the odds to win the league championship at 7-2.
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
