Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics Preview and Betting Tips

Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers travel to Boston to meet Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics Wednesday morning Australian time in the pick of this year’s NBA Xmas games.
At 31/20 a $10 bet would return $26
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Basketball Ben Simmons Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics
December 26,2018
09.30 am
By Ashley Perry,
Sites desk
12:28
December 25, 2018

NBA fans aged 40+ know all about the fierce rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. A new chapter in that rivalry begins Wednesday 9:30 a.m. AEST when the Celtics host the Sixers in one of five NBA Xmas Day games.

 

Sixers Lay Down Challenge

 Sixers coach (and former NBL coach) Brett Brown said earlier this week that his team has “the best starting five in the game”. That starting five, which includes Aussie star Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Jimmy Butler, has propelled the Sixers to a 22-12 win-loss record and equal third in the East. Boston, who were pre-season betting favourites to win the East, are two games back with a 19-13 record.

 

Both teams come into this game with strange form lines. The Sixers have won four in a row including a home thrashing of the top-ranked Toronto Raptors, but prior to that they lost at home to the bottom-ranked Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics had won eight straight through to mid-December before dropping three in a row, one of them at home to the lowly Phoenix Suns. While this match is tough to call, Philly are great value as underdogs with Unibet paying 2.55 in head-to-head betting.

Best Team and Player Betting Odds

 Simmons starred in Monday’s victory over the Raptors, racking up 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists from 34 minutes. PointsBet has the Aussie at 1.38 to grab a double-double, something he’s done in six of the last 10 matches, and 4.75 for a triple-double. Another interesting market is most points, where Embiid (26.4 ppg) starts a 2.10 favourite ahead of Boston’s Kyrie Irving (22.7 ppg), who is 2.80.

The Sixers are averaging 114.6 ppg to Boston’s 111.3 this season, and also lead in most other categories including field goal percentage, rebounds, assists, and blocks. Given the high-scoring nature of the NBA this season, we like PointsBet’s offer of 2.30 for both teams to score 110+ points.

Philly as underdogs in head-to-head betting @2.55 with Unibet.

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