Brooklyn Nets vs Boston Celtics Prediction, 12/25/2020 NBA Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Brooklyn Nets vs Boston Celtics

Date: Friday, December 25, 2020

Location: TD Garden in Boston, MA

TV: ABC

Odds/Point Spread: Brooklyn (-1)

TD Garden is the site where and the Boston Celtics (1-0) will take on the Brooklyn Nets (1-0) on Friday. The odds on this contest have Brooklyn as 1-point favorites. The total opens at 227.

The Brooklyn Nets faced the Golden State Warriors and went home with a win by a final score of 125-99 in their last contest. Brooklyn finished the game with a 45.7% FG percentage (42 of 92) and buried 15 of 35 3-pointers. At the free throw line, the Nets converted 26 of their 32 attempts for a percentage of 81.3%. Pertaining to hauling in rebounds, they earned 57 with 13 of them being of the offensive variety. They also dished out 24 dimes in this contest while getting 11 steals and 7 rejections. Regarding defense, Brooklyn allowed their opponent to shoot 37.4% from the field on 37 of 99 shooting. Golden State distributed 26 assists and had 6 steals for the matchup. In addition, the Warriors snagged 47 rebounds (13 offensive, 34 defensive) and got 6 blocks. Golden State finished shooting 65.2% at the charity stripe by knocking down 15 of their 23 shots. They made 10 of their 33 attempts from long range.

Kyrie Irving is a guy who saw a lot of court time for this game. He accounted for 26 points on 10 of 16 shooting. He was on the court for 25:18 minutes and also collected 4 rebounds. Irving finished the game shooting 62.5% from the floor and also dished out 4 dimes. One more player that was a factor in the game for the Nets was Kevin Durant. He snagged 5 rebounds and also totaled 3 assists. He finished the game at 43.8% from the floor for the contest by going 7-of-16 (22 points). When the final whistle was blown, Durant saw the court for 24:56 minutes.

Brooklyn turned it over 15.3 times per contest and as a unit committed 21.0 personal fouls per contest last year. As a squad, Brooklyn snagged 47.9 boards per game and sat with 1,761 assists over the course of last year, which was 13th in the NBA in terms of passing. The Nets shot 34.3% on shots from downtown (941 of 2,746) and 74.5% from the free throw line. They had an average of 111.8 pts per game (16th in basketball) while shooting 44.8% from the floor. On the defensive end, the Nets were able to force 12.8 turnovers per game and they drew 21.1 personal fouls. They relinquished 35.0% on 3-point shots while they were 19th in basketball in opponents PPG (112.3). The Nets defensively gave up an opponent FG percentage of 44.6% (2,981 of 6,688) and they surrendered 45.9 rebounds per contest as a team. They were ranked 6th in basketball in allowing assists to the opposition with 1,630 conceded last season.

The last time they took the hardwood, the Boston Celtics went home victorious with a score of 122-121 against the Milwaukee Bucks on a Jayson Tatum buzzer beater. The Celtics earned 27 defensive boards and 10 offensive rebounds for a total of 37 in this game. They also rejected 6 attempts while earning 8 steals in the matchup. The Bucks were called for 20 fouls in this matchup which took the Celtics to the free throw line for a total of 11 shots. They were able to knock down 8 of the free throws for a rate of 72.7%. In the matter of shots from downtown, Boston converted 18 of 40 tries (45.0%). At the conclusion of this game, the Celtics ended up going 48 for 101 from the field which had them shooting 47.5%. The Celtics permitted the Bucks to knock down 46 out of their 90 tries from the floor which had them at 51.1% for the matchup. They wrapped up this game 40.0% from beyond the arc by shooting 14 out of 35 and walked away from this one shooting 15 of 18 at the free throw line (83.3%). Regarding team rebounding, Boston permitted Milwaukee to pull down 52 in total (11 on the offensive glass).

Tatum pitched in for the Celtics in this matchup. He converted 12 out of 28 for the matchup for a field goal rate of 42.9%, which earned him 30 points. Tatum snagged 7 boards in his 32:49 mins of playing time and had 2 dimes in this matchup. Another guy that ended up coming through for Boston was Jaylen Brown. He totaled 33 points in 37:38 minutes on the court by going 13 of 24 from the floor for the game. Brown walked away from this one going 54.2% from the field as well as totaling 4 assists and 5 total rebounds.

In terms of offensive execution, the Celtics shot 46.1% from the field last season, which ranked 17th in basketball. Boston scored 8,183 pts last season (113.7 per game) and they pulled in 46.1 rebounds per contest. Their rate of earning assists was at 23.0 times per game (25th in basketball) and they coughed up possession 13.8 times per game. The Celtics committed 21.6 personal fouls every game and they connected on 80.1% from the free throw line. The Celtics were ranked 2nd in the NBA in PPG given up with 107.3. The Boston defense conceded 34.0% on 3-point attempts (851 of 2,504) and opponents converted on 76.7% of their shots from the charity stripe. They were able to force 15.2 TO's every game and let teams shoot 44.1% from the floor (4th in the league). They conceded 22.4 assists and 44.3 boards on a nightly basis, which was ranked 2nd and 11th in the NBA.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Brooklyn (-1)

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