Boston Celtics at Oklahoma City Thunder Betting Preview/Prop Pick

Currently, on a three-game win streak, the Boston Celtics seem unstoppable. Today, they face off against the Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the worst teams in the Western Conference.

Will the Celtics easily overwhelm the Thunder with their incredible offense? Or could the Thunder find a way to stop Jayson Tatum? After their win over the Nuggets, this will be a tough task.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have lost nine straight games and hope to avoid a tenth. The main player they’ll need to find a way to stop is Jayson Tatum. Unfortunately, even if they stop him, they have to worry about Jaylen Brown.

So, how can the Thunder win this game? We’ll take a look at both teams and find their best chance to win. We’ll also pick the best team to cover.

Boston Celtics: Can anyone stop Tatum and Brown?

The duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continues to impress the NBA. Not too long ago, they combined for a total of 62 points, beating the Sacramento Kings. In the immediate game after, they each scored over 30 points against the Denver Nuggets.

The Celtics have risen to the No.4 spot in the Eastern Conference. With a few more wins, they can take the second spot. 

Although statistics show the Celtics only average 109.72 points per game, we have to dig deeper. Those statistics are over the course of the year, not how they’ve performed in recent weeks.

In seven of their last ten games, the Celtics have scored over 110 points. In four of those seven, they scored over 120 points. Their offense, right now, is one of the best in the league. 

Oklahoma City Thunder: How can they stop the Celtics?

This question is a tough one to answer, but their focus has to be on Jayson Tatum. Aaron Wiggins, the Thunder small forward, will be the player tasked with stopping Tatum.

If he can force Tatum to take low-percentage shots, this will give the Thunder their best chance. However, the Thunder are dealing with a lot of injuries, ones that could change the course of the game. 

Josh Giddey, their starting shooting guard, is out along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the day-to-day list. This will leave both Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown of the Celtics playing against backups.

Both Smart and Brown are terrific shooters from beyond the arc. The Thunder defense allows 111.01 points per game; this defense isn’t equipped to stop these shooters.

Boston Celtics at Oklahoma City Thunder Betting Pick

Between these two teams, it isn’t hard to pick a winner. However, the question isn’t necessarily who will win, but who will cover the spread.

The Celtics come into this game as 13.5-point favorites, quite a large margin to overcome. However, they were able to beat the Denver Nuggets by 20 points just a few nights ago. With that being said, we have to take Boston. 

In their last nine games, the Celtics have gone 6-2-1 against the spread. Against the Thunder, the Celtics have a 7-3 record in their last ten meetings.

Boston can cover large spreads, and we also expect the total to go over in this game. Boston will hand Oklahoma City their tenth straight loss on Monday night.

DunkelIndex Free Pick: Boston Celtics -13.5, OVER

Prop Pick

Boston (-115) OVER 115.5 Points

Boston is averaging 109.9 points per game on offense, which ranks No. 16 in the league. That average increases to 111.2 points per game on the road and 116.4 points per game in the Celtics’ last five road games.

With Dunkel predicting a Boston victory by the score of 124-102, take the Celtics (-115) to finish OVER their Vegas team total of 115.5 points against the Thunder.

Check out more of Today’s NBA Picks!