NBA Odds: Celtics Betting Favorites In Christmas Day Tilt With 76ers
The Boston Celtics will welcome the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday for a Christmas Day game as 3.5-point favorites on the NBA odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Boston enjoys a long tradition of games on Christmas Day, playing 31 times on the date since 1954, but has struggled in recent holiday contests, going 2-8 straight up in their past 10 ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s 76ers vs. Celtics betting matchup at TD Garden.
The Celtics enter the holiday season after falling short of expectations over the first two months of the season. The team opened as second favorites to the Golden State Warriors on the NBA futures, sporting +500 odds to claim their first NBA title since 2008, but have struggled with consistency during the first half of the campaign.
Hobbled by a 4-8 SU run during the month of November, the Celtics look to Christmas Day stalled in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, sitting 4 1/2 games back of the first-place Toronto Raptors. The slow start has dumped Boston to a +1000 wager on the NBA championship odds, and second to Toronto on the odds to win the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics also have cooled off considerably since embarking on a 9-1 SU run on Thanksgiving weekend. The team dropped three straight, including outright losses to Detroit and Phoenix, before righting the ship with a 119-103 win over the visiting Charlotte Hornets as 7.5-point home chalk Sunday evening.
Boston also has enjoyed the upper hand in recent dates with the Sixers, racking up a reliable 19-3 SU record in 22 meetings since April 2014, according to the OddsShark NBA Database. That includes an 11-1 SU mark on home hardwood, and a 5-1 record against the spread in their past six meetings at TD Garden.
The 76ers arrive in Boston on a high after posting a convincing 126-101 victory over the Raptors as 7.5-point home favorites Saturday. The win marks the first time the team has strung together consecutive victories in two weeks. However, Philadelphia enters the holiday season as a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference, sporting a 22-12 SU record, just 2 1/2 games back of Toronto, and +1700 odds on the NBA futures.
The 76ers, though, have struggled on the road at times this season. While the team leads the NBA with a 16-3 SU record on home court they sport a 6-9 SU record on the road, but have shown signs of a turnaround during a 4-2 SU run away from Wells Fargo Center.
