Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics Prediction, NBA Odds
Boston has opened as a 14-point favourite on the NBA odds.
76ers vs. Celtics NBA Betting Odds
At least the Philadelphia 76ers know what the goal is now the rest of the season: Tank, tank and tank as much as possible with superstar Joel Embiid done for the year with more knee troubles. Could you imagine the 2025-26 Sixers if they won the draft lottery? The grand prize atop the 2025 NBA Draft is Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, and if you put him on a team with Embiid and fellow All-Star Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, look out.
The Sixers owe their 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City if it lands outside the top six, so few teams have more reason to lose the rest of the way than Philadelphia does. Right now, the Sixers have the sixth-worst record. They might be able to “catch” Toronto for the fifth-worst, but all the other teams near the bottom are basically tanking now as well for Flagg.
Boston honestly doesn’t have a lot to play for the rest of the regular season, either. The defending East champions are going to finish second in the conference standings to Cleveland and really the only motivation would be not to slip to third behind the New York Knicks. The Celtics may rest some of their stars plenty down the stretch to ensure playoff health.
Thursday concludes this season series with Boston leading 2-1. The C’s have won seven of the past 10 overall in the regular-season slate (6-4 ATS) with the over-under at 5-5.
Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers’ free-fall continued on Tuesday with a 126-112 loss at Minnesota playing without All-Stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. We mentioned Embiid above. Quentin Grimes led the 76ers with 30 points, and Kelly Oubre Jr. added 24 for Philadelphia, which has lost 13 of 15. Paul George’s disastrous season continued with only seven points on 3-for-11 shooting, and he left with groin soreness. Doubt we see George on Thursday now, and he’s questionable. Maxey, among the NBA’s leading scorers at 26.3 PPG, is out. He is the only Eastern Conference player and one of three league-wide (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic) with at least 1,300 total points and 90 steals this season. Former Raptors icon Kyle Lowry is on the Sixers roster but barely plays as a backup guard and missed Tuesday with a hip injury. He won’t play here, either. Grimes likely will be the focal point of the offence. The Sixers are 2-11 ATS in their past 13 games.
Boston Celtics
Boston was a 128-118 home winner over Portland on Wednesday playing without three starters in All-Stars Jayson Tatum (shoulder), Jrue Holiday (finger) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness). None are seriously hurt/sick, but the Celtics will definitely manage all their guys carefully the rest of the way. I tend to think at least Tatum and Porzingis play tonight. But Jaylen Brown and Al Horford seem likely to get the second leg of the B2B off. Payton Pritchard scored a career-high 43 points and knocked down a career-best 10 3-pointers in Wednesday’s win, and Derrick White added career highs with 41 points and nine 3s. They became the first Celtics duo to score 40 or more points in the same game and the first duo in league history with nine or more 3-pointers each in a game. Pritchard is the heavy favourite to win NBA Sixth Man of the Year. The Celtics are 7-3 ATS in their past 10 games.
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