Can the Celtics defend first place?
Tuesday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder host the Boston Celtics. At the Paycom Center, the hosts want to attack tenth place, while the guests want to defend their lead in the Eastern Conference. The table constellation is therefore quite clear and therefore the bookmakers’ betting odds between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics are also very one-sided.
OKC are not particularly strong at home, with Mark Daigneault’s side winning just ten of their 19 home games. However, their recent form should be encouraging as Oklahoma have won four of their last seven games. In addition, Mark Daigneault’s team had one day more break and should therefore be fit for this duel.
Boston are strong away from home, winning eleven games and losing only six. In addition, Joe Mazzulla’s team is in good form and has won four of the last five games. The momentum is clearly with the visitors and therefore the odds for an away win between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics are very low.
One of the key players in this game could be OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He is the leader of the home team and could score 37 points in the first duel with the Celtics. With Pokusevski, another player missing for the hosts, he will have to lead the way. After a disappointing game against Philadelphia, there will be ambition enough to forget that game. Therefore, between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics, we recommend a bet on over 28.5 points from Gilgeous-Alexander.
Oklahoma City Thunder – Statistics & current form
Oklahoma are 13th in the Western Conference and are already four wins behind tenth place. However, Mark Daigneault’s side still have three games in hand and could still catch up. The City Thunders currently have 15 wins and 21 losses. In the entire pre-season, the team won only 24 games, so there is definitely an upward trend. Even the Play-In-Tournament is within the realms of possibility this season, even if the chances are rather slim.
Josh Giddey in his second year in the NBA
The shooting guard is running a bit under the radar and that’s despite not putting up bad numbers. In his rookie year, the Australian, who was selected sixth overall in the 2021 draft, still scored 12.5 points per game. In his second season, he was able to increase this value to 14.9 points per game. This makes him the second best scorer in the Oklahoma squad. He also leads the team with 8.2 rebounds and averages 5.4 assists. He is a very interesting player for the future who might even make a big breakthrough.
The problems on the defensive end for OKC
Oklahoma is allowing an average of 116.8 points, which ranks 25th in the league.Defensively is clearly the Thunders’ problem, as Mark Daigneault’s team is doing well on the offensive end. Averaging 115.2 points, the offensive line can somewhat make up for the deficiencies on defence. Arguably the biggest weakness, however, is the perimeter, as Oklahoma doesn’t have a shooter in the top-50. Canadian Luguentz Dort is OKC’s best player with 60 threes in 35 games, and that’s not a particularly good stat.
Injured List:
Ousmane Dieng – Out
Chet Holmgren – Out
Aleksej Pokusevski – Out
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl – Out
Starting Five of the Oklahoma City Thunder:
PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – SG: Josh Giddey – G: Luguentz Dort – F: Jalen Williams – F: Jaylin Williams
Boston Celtics – Statistics & current form
Boston lead the Eastern Conference with 26 wins and eleven losses. Joe Mazzulla’s team is one of the favourites for the title after the Celtics only failed in the final last season. This season, the Celtics are looking to make a big impact and seem to have improved their performance. But the season is still long and other teams like Brooklyn or Milwaukee seem to have very good cards. With a win against OKC, Boston would defend their lead in the standings and remain at the top of the NBA.
Jayson Tatum the next MVP?
The Celtics’ shooting forward plays really good basketball, no question. But can he even be crowned the NBA’s best player this season? Currently the chances are very good, because in the Kia MVP Ladder Tatum is on the second place. With 30.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, he is the linchpin of Boston. Compared to the best players in the league, however, he has a slight disadvantage, because while players like Jokic or Doncic lead their team alone, Tatum has another superstar next to him in Jaylen Brown, who is also listed in the top ten.
The Boston Celtics’ offensive power
Joe Mazzulla’s team is almost unstoppable on the offensive end, leading the NBA with 118.6 points per game. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown alone are averaging 58 points per game. Defensively, Boston is solid and ranks 13th in the NBA. The Celtics conceded an average of 112.6 points and thus have a positive difference of six points on average. So there is no real weakness to be seen in the visitors, because the team is also well-positioned in the categories of rebounds and assists.
Injured List:
Danilo Gallinari – Out
Robert Williams – Game Time Decision
Starting Five of the Boston Celtics:
SF: Jayson Tatum – SG: Jaylen Brown – PG: Marcus Smart – PG: Derrick White – C: Al Horford
Oklahoma City Thunder – Boston Celtics Head-to-head comparison / H2H record
The direct comparison between the two teams goes surprisingly close to the clear favourite from Boston. The Celtics won 34 games and lost 30 times. Accordingly, Oklahoma can definitely expect to win. In the first meeting between the two teams this season, the favourite won 126-122 in a very close and exciting game. For this reason, our prediction between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics once again goes in the direction of the cloverleaves.
Oklahoma City Thunder – Boston Celtics Tip
Looking at the odds before the clash between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics, a win for the visitors seems almost set in stone. However, the odds have no value, especially since the host only narrowly lost the first game. Oklahoma also plays good offensive basketball and with their own fans behind them, a surprise is not out of the question. In addition, OKC had one day more break and will therefore not be shot down in their own hall. We therefore play between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics the tip on over 230.5 points in the game.
If you are looking for an alternative, you should take a look at the odds for over 119.5 points for Boston. This line is thus only one point above the point average. Since OKC has problems on the defensive side, this bet also seems very interesting.
