Boston Celtics vs San Antonio Spurs Prediction, 12/31/2023 Preview and Pick

Game: Boston Celtics vs San Antonio Spurs

Date: Sunday, December 31, 2023

Location: Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, TX

TV: Bally Sports Southwest-San Antonio

The Boston Celtics (24-6) are headed to Frost Bank Center on Sunday where they will try to defeat the San Antonio Spurs (5-25).

The Celtics took the court against the Pistons and went home with a win by a final score of 128-122 in their last contest. Regarding personal fouls, the Celtics ended up with 15 and the Pistons recorded 21 personal fouls. They buried 14 out of their 43 tries from downtown. Detroit ended up shooting 63.2% from the charity stripe by knocking down 12 of 19 tries. In addition, Detroit snagged 57 rebounds (19 offensive, 38 defensive) and had 4 rejections. Detroit doled out 27 dimes and had 7 steals in this matchup. In terms of defending, Boston allowed their opponent to shoot 47.5% from the field on 48 out of 101 shooting. They also doled out 25 dimes in this contest as well as forcing the other team into 18 turnovers and getting 10 steals. With regard to grabbing rebounds, they earned a total of 43 with 11 of them being offensive. From the free throw line, the Celtics buried 21 of 25 tries for a percentage of 84.0%. Boston walked away from the game having earned a 48.5% field goal percentage (48 of 99) and made 11 out of their 39 3-point shots.

Kristaps Porzingis is one guy who played a role for the contest. Porzingis went 61.9% from the field and also earned 1 assist. He was on the court for 36 minutes played and also grabbed 8 boards. He recorded 35 points on 13 of 21 shooting.

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Boston heads into this one with a win-loss mark of 24-6 this season. They lose possession by turning the ball over 13.0 times per game and as a squad they are committing 17.5 fouls per contest. As a team, Boston is pulling down 46.8 boards per game and has accumulated 769 assists so far this year, which ranks 21st in the NBA in terms of passing the ball. The Celtics are connecting on 37.3% on 3-pointers (482 of 1,293) and 80.4% from the charity stripe. They currently have an average of 120.3 pts per contest (6th in the NBA) while hitting 48.1% from the floor.

On defense, the Celtics are forcing their opponents into 12.5 turnovers per contest and they draw 18.6 fouls. They are currently ranked 3rd in the league in giving up assists to their opponents with 723 relinquished this year. The Celtics defense is giving up a shooting percentage of 44.9% (1,236 of 2,751) and they concede 43.4 rebounds per contest as a group. They are giving up 36.9% from 3-point land and they are 4th in basketball in points per game allowed (110.3).

In their last game, the Spurs got the victory with a final of 118-105 when they played the Trail Blazers. When discussing rebounding, San Antonio permitted Portland to pull down 57 overall (22 on the offensive glass). They went 30.6% from distance by hitting 11 out of 36 and finished the game at 24 out of 32 from the free throw line (75.0%). The Spurs allowed the Trail Blazers to knock down 35 of their 101 tries from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 34.7% in the game. In all, the Spurs walked away from this one shooting 41 out of 85 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 48.2%. With regard to 3-point attempts, San Antonio converted 10 out of their 36 attempts (27.8%). They were able to knock down 26 of the free throw tries for a rate of 92.9%. The Trail Blazers committed 22 personal fouls for the matchup which took the Spurs to the free throw line for 28 shots. They coughed it up 11 times, while getting 9 steals for the contest. The Spurs pulled down 35 defensive boards and 7 offensive boards totaling 42 in the matchup.

Victor Wembanyama ended up being a major contributor for the Spurs for the matchup. He converted 9 out of 14 for the game giving him a field goal percentage of 64.3%, and had 6 rebounds. Wembanyama had 30 points in his 24 minutes on the court and had 6 dimes for the matchup.

San Antonio has a win-loss mark of 5-25 this season. When it comes to executing on offense, the Spurs are shooting 45.4% from the floor, which has them ranked 27th in the NBA. San Antonio has scored 3,334 pts so far this year (111.1 per game) and they grab 43.3 boards per game. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 29.2 times per contest (4th in the league) and they are turning it over 15.4 times per game. The Spurs are committing 19.0 fouls per contest and they hit 78.3% from the free throw line.

The San Antonio defense allows 38.9% on shots from 3-point land (432 of 1,111) and opponents are converting on 77.0% of their shots from the charity stripe. They relinquish 28.3 assists and 46.7 total boards per game, which ranks them 28th and 29th in the NBA. The Spurs are ranked 27th in the NBA in PPG given up with 122.6. They are forcing 13.5 TO's every game and have allowed teams to shoot 48.8% from the field (24th in basketball).

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take San Antonio

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