Winning 10 straight would be an excellent accomplished in a season filled with highs for Boston. That said, defensive stalwart Marcus Smart hurt himself on Saturday against the Raptors and will be out, as will Malcolm Brogdon, albeit for personal reasons.

Even so, Joe Mazzulla’s Celtics are pinned as -8 favourites on the NBA odds. The over-under is established at 230.

Celtics vs. Magic NBA Betting Odds

Orlando knows a thing or two about playing Boston. In mid-December Jamahl Mosley’s side spent a weekend at TD Garden and conjured up a brilliant spell against their foes, claiming both games, 117-109 and 95-92. It was an impressive sweep of a team that’s fighting for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. The two-game set also awarded the Magic with a 2-1 lead in the season series. Tonight’s tussle marks their final regular season encounter on the schedule.

The Magic are not a promising prospect with respect to the moneyline given their 17-29 win-loss tally. Despite their struggles, the Floridian side has equipped itself with a more than respectable 25-18-2 record ATS. Prior to the failure against the Wizards, they had handled the spread in four straight games. Of note: they’ve covered all three games with the Celtics this season, including the defeat.

Being a conference-leading side doesn’t equate to having a world-beater spread record. At 25-21-1, Boston wins a high number of tilts without covering. They exorcised demons last week with a thrilling overtime win against the Warriors, but it wasn’t enough to cover. Saturday night featured a great contest against Toronto, which again, despite the win, wasn’t good enough. Furthermore, despite being one of the highest-scoring teams in the NBA, the Under has cashed in four out of the last five games.

Boston Celtics

The Raptors have a knack for playing the Celtics tight. Fans of both sides remember the 2020 bubble series that went the distance, with Boston narrowly winning 4-3. A good game was expected at Rogers Arena Saturday night, to say nothing of Boston opting to rest Jayson Tatum, who had been playing out of his mind lately.

While the injury to Marcus Smart put a sour note on the evening, the moxie on display was encouraging. Grant Williams had himself a night with 25 points and injected considerable spark by coming off the bench. To many peoples’ surprise, it was Payton Pritchard, also off the bench, who hit some of the more critical shots of the contest, draining a few essential threes in the final quarter. Al Horford’s seven rebounds also proved critical down the stretch, as did his game-clinching steal for the 106-104 win.

Orlando Magic

Consistency is key in any sport, be it individual or team-based. There probably isn’t a spell to gift themselves with it, so the Magic will have to work hard and earn it. The aforementioned sweep of Boston in December didn’t give them much momentum, nor did an impressive 123-100 win over the Pelicans on Friday.

24 hours later the Washington Wizards awaited them in D.C., a contest that ended 138-118 in favour of the hosts. The visitors looked like a tired team that had travelled overnight after investing considerable effort in vanquishing a strong foe the day before. Three-point shooting kept them in the game for stretches, but they were largely overmatched by Washington, who fired a magical 52.9 per cent from beyond the arc and 53.7 from the floor overall. Scoring is a problem, or lack of it, rather. Orlando has the 27^th-ranked offence in the NBA.

NBA Prediction: Who Will Win Celtics vs. Magic?

CELTICS

Away

115

MAGIC

Home

105

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