Jayson Tatum and the reigning champion Celtics will visit Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and the 76ers on Thursday, the first game out of the All-Star break for both teams.
The Sporting News has you covered with the NBA odds for this Eastern Conference rivalry game, along with some best bets and top props from the BetMGM online sportsbook.
Let’s get to the odds for this Thursday night tilt, then unveil our best bets, top props, and final score prediction for Celtics vs. 76ers.
Celtics vs. 76ers odds, pick against spread
All odds and props are from BetMGM, an authorized gaming operator of the NBA.
- ATS: Celtics -8.5 (-105) | 76ers +8.5 (-115)
- Moneyline: Celtics -325 | 76ers +260
- Over/under: O 224.5 (-115) | U 224.5 (-105)
Boston will be looking to pick up where it left off before the All-Star break, with a 10-3 stretch that improved the reigning champs up to 39-16 on the season.
The Sixers, meanwhile, have lost five straight games and seven of their past 10. Philly sits at 20-34 on the season, 1.5 games out of the 10th seed in the East.
The -325 represents a nearly 77-percent implied win probability. Boston has now been favored by eight or more points a whopping 41 times, going 32-9 in those contests.
Celtics vs. 76ers best bets and final score prediction
The Celtics love playing the 76ers. Healthy Joel Embiid or not, Boston always shows up to play Philadelphia. So, it’s pretty good timing for Joe Mazzulla’s squad fresh out of the All-Star break, with Boston on a 10-3 run and Philly on a five-game losing streak.
Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and company have gone 21-4 as an away favorite this season. Over their past 15 games, seven of their 11 wins in that stretch have been by huge margins: 27, 40, 15, 22, 27, 18, and 13. The last three were in New York, in Miami, and at home against San Antonio, with Boston allowing an average of just 97.3 points during those three straight dubs.
Newsflash: the Knicks, Heat and Spurs are all better than this dilapidated version of the Sixers. Embiid can’t seem to manage to string together a healthy week, never mind a few games of consistent play. The Paul George experiment has been an abject failure. Tyrese Maxey has been awesome, but he can’t possibly shoulder all that the team around him has asked him to take on.
Making matters worse, injuries to Maxey (knee), Kyle Lowry (hip), Eric Gordon (wrist) and Justin Edwards (ankle) could have Philly shorthanded against one of the hottest teams in the NBA.
The only play here is the Celtics to cover. Buy the spread down and mini-parlay it with a player prop if you want some extra insurance, but you really shouldn’t need it. Boston is well-rested and flat-out on a different level than the Sixers have even flirted with this entire season.
FINAL SCORE PREDICTION: Celtics 117, 76ers 104 — Boston wins and covers (-8.5), while the score goes UNDER the projected total of 224.5.
Celtics vs. 76ers top player prop bet
Derrick White, G, Celtics: 23+ points + rebounds + assists (-115)
Over the Celtics’ three-game winning streak, their average margin of victory has been 19.3 points. Derrick White’s average points + rebounds + assists per game during that mini-stretch: 27.6. Ironically, his average PRA against Philly this season is 27.5.
DWhite eats minutes, win or lose. He’s always down to ball, even if the Celts are winning by 15 and the Jays have already retreated to the bench in the fourth quarter. The OVER feels safe here regardless of how much Boston wins by, and we’re almost tempted to bet White to reach 25 PRA at +105.
