The NBA season is underway tonight and we have an eastern conference rivalry between two contenders in Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers! Boston dominated Philly last year and beat them in the playoffs in 5 and they will look to get off to a winning start as Kyrie and Hayward return meanwhile Philly will be hoping for a revenge as Simmons, Embiid and co are looking to end their struggles against Boston.
Boston Celtics
Boston are coming into this season will very high expectations as they are considered the top team in the east after LeBron departed and one of the top contenders to win it all as a whole. Boston will have their stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward back while keeping the rest of their young core in tact with Brown, Tatum, Rozier and Smart all looking to take the next step. This is going to be a huge year for Boston and they will hope that they can get off to a winning start.
Predicted Starting line-up – K.Irving, J.Brown, G.Hayward, J.Tatum, A.Horford
Injuries – None
Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia are coming into this season with new hope and after experiencing playoffs for the first time since 2012 and in hopes that the experience the young players got last year will make them stronger this year. Philly finished last season 52-30 and made the 2nd round which exceeded many peoples pre-season expectations despite no1 pick Fultz being out with an injury. The emergence of Simmons and Embiid got many Philly fans excited while Markelle Fultz is back to 100% and will look to make an impact he should’ve made last year. A young team with good veterans around will for sure make Philly as one of the top contenders in the East this season. But can they overcome their nemesis Boston Celtics is the question right now after being dominated by them last season.
Predicted Starting Line-up – B.Simmons, M.Fultz, R.Covington, D.Saric, J.Embiid
Injuries: W.Chandler – out , M.Muscala – questionable
Key Facts
Boston are 10-1 against Philadelphia at home in the past 11 meetings at TD Garden (playoffs included)
Celtics went 7-2 against the Sixers last season (3-1 reg season, 4-1 playoffs)
Jayson Tatum has scored 20+ pts against the Sixers in every playoff game last season (he avg 23.6 ppg in the series). 19.4 ppg if you include regular season. Loves playing the Sixers.
Boston were actually a worse home team (27-14) than a road team (28-13) in the regular season last season.
Boston averaged 104 ppg against the Sixers last season while Philly put up 99.7 ppg against Boston. Playoffs included.
On average there was 203.7 pts scored between Celtics and Sixers last season in their 9 total meetings
Ben Simmons only averaged 13.5 ppg against Boston last season (14.4 in the playoffs). Meanwhile the other star Joel Embiid put up 20.9 ppg against Boston (23 ppg in the playoffs). Both scoring below their averages.
Philly were much worse on the road (22-19) than at home (30-11) last season.
Betting Tips and Predictions
In this match we’ve got a Boston Celtics -3.5 AH At 1.80. Boston have clearly got the better squad and the atmosphere is going to be absolutely crazy which the team will feed off of and come out as winners. Last season we saw Boston dominate Philly despite Kyrie and Hayward being out and even with both of them potentially being rusty, it won’t change the fact that Boston are better, deeper and better coached. Add that and home court advantage and you get your result. Boston Celtics seemingly know how to quieten down Simmons and Embiid and if they can do that here then we may see a double figure win for the Celtics. Furthermore under 209.5 pts at 1.95 is worth the money. These teams are both good defensively and given that it’s the first game of The season you’d have to expect offences to be rusty plus last season we saw some very low scoring games between them. Boston to win this match around 105-95.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Boston Celtics Win – 1.52 (Regular Time – 1.57)
Philadelphia 76ers Win – 2.70 (Regular Time – 2.91)
Overtime – 13.00
Match Start – 17th October 2018 – 1am UK Time
