Celtics Odds: Boston Slight Betting Favorites Vs. Mavericks At TD Garden

The Boston Celtics won’t have Kyrie Irving (eye) on the floor Friday night as they seek a fourth straight win at home when they play host to the visiting Dallas Mavericks as 5-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.

Boston welcomed the New Year by opening a four-game homestand with a decisive 115-102 win over Minnesota on Wednesday, but the team has struggled with consistency in recent weeks, posting consecutive straight-up victories while going 4-5 in nine outings ahead of Friday night’s Mavericks vs. Celtics betting matchup at TD Garden.

Despite their recent holiday season swoon, the Celtics remain steady performers on home hardwood, winning outright in three straight and seven of their past nine, according to the OddsShark NBA Database. It has been Boston’s 12-5 SU home record that has been the difference in an otherwise shaky first half of the NBA season for the Celtics, who enter January stalled in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Celtics’ uneven performance has done little to impact their position on the NBA futures, where they continue to sit a close second to the Toronto Raptors on the odds to win the Eastern Conference, and remain among the favorites as a +1000 wager on the NBA championship odds.

The Celtics have also enjoyed regular success against Dallas, posting SU wins in four of five meetings to end a dismal 1-11 SU run. Two recent home victories over Dallas have proven to be low-scoring affairs, with Boston eking out a 97-90 victory as 8-point home chalk in the Mavericks’ last visit in December 2017.

That win followed a 90-83 victory as 6-point home chalk in December 2016. But despite the limited offense produced in those contests, the OVER regularly has paid out when these two teams meet, going 6-3 in totals betting over their past nine clashes.

The Mavericks travel to Boston on a high following their 122-84 rout of the Charlotte Hornets as 1.5-point road underdogs on the NBA odds Wednesday. With the victory, Dallas now has posted SU wins in three of five, and gone 6-1 against the spread in its past seven overall.

However, the Mavericks endured a dismal 2018 on the road, posting SU wins in just six of 40 contests away from American Airlines Center, and sit deadlocked with the Cleveland Cavaliers with a league-worst 3-16 SU road record this season.

Following Friday’s game, the Celtics enjoy a weekend off before wrapping up their homestand with visits from the Brooklyn Nets on Monday and the Indiana Pacers next Wednesday. Boston has posted four straight home wins over the Nets but has averaged just 94 points per game in two straight home losses to the Pacers.