Basketball betting favors the Boston Celtics on Saturday as they host the Toronto Raptors. The Celtics have owned the Raptors in this NBA betting series, winning nine of the last ten and covering the spread in 7 of the last 10. Here is a look at this basketball betting matchup between these two Atlantic Division rivals.
Basketball betting has the Celtics routing the Raptors at the Garden earlier this season by a score of 116-103. That has been the norm lately when these two teams meet in NBA betting. The Celtics have won the last five against Toronto and nine of the last ten. They have covered the basketball betting point spread in three of the last four. The Celtics have been better vs. the basketball betting line on the road vs. the Raptors though. Boston has actually lost three of the last four vs. the basketball betting line at home vs. Toronto Raptors. The Celtics are sometimes just laying too many points at home in basketball betting and while they win, they don’t always cover the NBA betting odds.
Toronto has a below .500 record yet they are in second place behind Boston in the Atlantic Division. That tells you how bad this division is behind the Celtics. Toronto has been solid at home in basketball betting this season but poor on the road. The Raptors are 6-11 vs. the basketball betting line in road games this season. Toronto can score, as they rank in the Top 10 in points but their defense is terrible. Chris Bosh leads the team in scoring at over 23 points per game.
Boston has not played very well of late and the injury to Paul Pierce has hurt them. Rajon Rondo has picked up the slack but the Celtics are simply not the same without their leader. Pierce probably won’t play in this game either so the Celtics could be a risky basketball betting play. It doesn’t help that Boston has been poor at home this season in terms of covering the spread. They are 5-9 at home this season versus the NBA betting odds. The Celtics still have the top ranked defense in the league but their offense is not in the Top 10 in the league as basketball betting stats show. The Celtics still have Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo though, so they can score even when Pierce is out of the lineup.