Be sure to check the injury report close to game times as these picks may change!
Denver Nuggets at Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics get home court advantage against the Nuggets who are off a fresh win against the Lakers 122-105. The Nuggets are now 7th in West with a record of 15-11. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games and will look to extend their win streak to 4 games. The Nuggets are experiencing injuries on their bench with Barton, Millsap, Whittington, Harris, Morris, and Dozier are all out this game.
The Celtics are struggling in their last 10 games going 3-7 over that stretch and slide to 13-13 overall with a two game losing streak. The injury report shows Smart and Langford are out once again and Theis is a game time decision.
The Nuggets will get the advantage down low due to Jokic. The Celtics struggle down low especially with the defensive minded Theis possibly out for this game. Jokic will be able to do whatever he wants and will reach his averages of 26.5 PPG, 8.6 APG, and 11.5 RPG. Jokic is putting up MVP numbers this season and is worth a wager in this category as he is doing it all for the Nuggets and keeping them competitive in the West.
The Nuggets get the advantage down low but the Celtics have the guard advantage. Brown has been playing his best basketball this season on both sides of the ball. He is the top scorer on the team behind his averages of 26.0 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 5.7 RPG shooting 51% from the floor. With Harris and Barton out, he will have a serious advantage at the shooting guard position. Tatum will also have the advantage at the small forward position. Tatum is averaging 25.6 PPG, 4.5 APG, and 7.1 RPG.
This matchup will come down to which team is able to take advantage of their mismatches the best. Jokic will most likely score 30+ PPG. It will be up to Brown and Tatum to negate Jokic in scoring. Walker will also need to snap his terrible play as of late. If Walker shows up with bad shooting night, Murray will be able to swing the advantage to the Nuggets with an average shooting night. Nevertheless, this game will be a close down to the wire.
The Celtics are the -2.5 favorite. The Celtics are still a good team despite bad play as of late. I believe they will turn their fortunes around and avoid the three game losing streak making Celtics -2.5 the play. However, I suggest Celtics ML over the spread.
Toronto Raptors at Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks will look to avoid a four game losing streak at home. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games and are 2nd in the East with a a record of 16-11.
The Raptors will also look to end their losing streak of two games and are also 5-5 in their last 10 games. They own the last seed in the playoffs in the East with a record of 12-15.
All eyes will be on the matchup between Giannis and Siakam. Both are top caliber power forwards in the league. Giannis is averaging 28.0 PPG, 5.7 APG, and 11.5 RPG while Siakam is averaging 20.5 PPG, 4.5 APG, and 7.5 RPG. Giannis gets the advantage in this matchup in these categories and on defense.
The other factor in this game is who can limit the other team’s second-best scorer. Middleton and Van Fleet will need to come out firing if they want to swing the advantage of winning to their team’s side. Middleton is averaging 20.7 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 5.8 RPG. On the other hand, Van Fleet is averaging 19.9 PPG, 6.6 APG, and 4.2 RPG.
The Bucks have the better offensive and defensive rating in this matchup. They are 2nd in offensive rating and 11th in defensive rating. On the flip side, the Raptors are 8th in offensive rating and 16th in defensive rating. The Bucks get the clear advantage in this matchup but can be erased if the Bucks come out flat again.
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The Bucks are the -5.5 favorite. The Raptors have struggled all season and get a Bucks team that has not seen a four-game losing streak in quite some time. Due to the unlikely hood of them losing four games in a row, I believe the play is Bucks -5.5.
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