Free NBA Picks: Raptors vs. Celtics

November 27, 2009

Eric Williams takes a look at the NBA point spreads for the Friday night matchup of the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors. The current line shows Boston as a 9.5 home favorite with the total listed at 204. If you are looking for a little help in beating the books this year, then sign up for the NBA picks offered by our top handicappers. They do a lot of work every day going over the games so you have the best chance of winning your bets. Need a great place to wager? BetUS is currently offering all new clients a $500 match bonus!

The Boston Celtics (11-4 SU, 5-10 ATS, 7-8 O/U) clearly aren’t playing their best basketball of the season right now, struggling to win each of their last two games after dropping three of their previous four.

To make matters even worse, the Celtics have failed to cover the spread in six consecutive games and a whopping nine of 10 overall.

Even with their current struggles, the Celtics are still playing better basketball than the Toronto Raptors (7-9 SU, 8-8 ATS, 9-7 O/U), losers of five of their last seven games overall.

Both teams will be looking to play better basketball tonight when they battle at Boston’s TD Garden at 7:30 PM ET.

Toronto

* Raptors are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 vs. Eastern Conference.
* Raptors are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games.

The Raptors have alternated wins and losses in each of their last five games, but were absolutely routed by the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night, losing 116-81 and failing to cover the NBA moneyline as 2.5-point road favorites in the loss.

Chris Bosh led the way for Toronto with 18 points and 14 boards but the Raptors shot just 34.5 percent from the field in the poor showing. The Raptors have gone 2-4 against the spread (ATS) over its last six games.

Boston

* Celtics are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games.
* Celtics are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games overall.

Paul Pierce scored a team-high 27 points to lead the Celtics past the 76ers on Wednesday night as six Boston players reached double figures in scoring in the win. Boston failed to cover the NBA point spread as13-point home favorites in the win.

Analysis: The Toronto Raptors have played the Celtics close in four of the last five meetings against the Celtics and I think they are going to keep the final score inside 10 points tonight.

Boston’s poor ATS record and deliberate style of play, combined with the fact that the Raptors have a pretty solid veteran-laden roster, have me believing the Raptors are going to narrowly cover tonight’s NBA point spread.

While I am not predicting an outright road win for the Raptors, I say they lose inside of 10 points tonight.

Free NBA picks on this game show you should take the Raptors +9½ points.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

Filed Under Free Picks