Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Boston Celtics Best Bet For Wednesday, March 12
The NBA has nine games on the schedule for Wednesday, including a potential NBA Finals preview between the Thunder and Celtics on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Keep reading for an NBA best bet for this matchup below, and bet with your favorite sportsbook apps.
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NBA Best Bet For Thunder vs. Celtics
In this heavyweight fight between title contenders, I’m taking the Celtics to prevail by a few points and cover the spread.
Boston Celtics -2.5 (-112 FanDuel & DraftKings)
Boston’s offense has embraced perimeter shooting to the nth degree, as they easily lead the NBA in 3-point attempt rate. The difference between them and second place is equal to the difference between second and 21st.
It’s not just their volume that makes Boston so deadly, though. They are knocking down 37.1% of their triples and a whopping 39.1% of catch-and-shoot threes. Due to Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford’s range, the Celtics trot out five perimeter shooters for the vast majority of their possessions, thus stretching out opposing defenses.
This strength doesn’t bode well for the Thunder, who design their defense to collapse on pick-and-rolls and rim attempts while surrendering spot-up looks to role players. Unfortunately for them, Boston’s role players are all capable of going scorched earth from deep.
In their January matchup, OKC won the contest by 13 points and held Boston to 92 points. However, the Celtics shot 3-for-20 on wide open triples and 5-for-19 on open triples, according to NBA.com. They managed to generate excellent looks but experienced horrific luck. It’s highly unlikely that Boston shoots that poorly again.
Meanwhile, Jalen Williams is sidelined with a hip injury. He’s a versatile chess piece for the defense who handles bigger wing scorers. His absence is devastating because Boston features jumbo wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum as their main offensive threats. If Alex Caruso (questionable) also misses the game, then the outlook becomes even more grim for a team that ranks just 16th in defense rating since the All-Star break.
On the other end, Williams is OKC’s only reliable self-created scorer behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder’s offense may be sluggish here when SGA rests. Chet Holmgren is a huge X Factor, but he’s shooting just 29.4% from 3-point range since returning from injury and hasn’t looked comfortable on offense. Boston has quality defensive options to throw at Gilgeous-Alexander, so it’s not a guarantee that OKC produces with their MVP candidate on the court, either.
Tatum and Porzingis are both questionable, so the Celtics may not escape injuries themselves. However, their offensive scheme and slew of 3-point shooters should allow them to overcome injuries better than OKC here.
Overall, Boston’s offense is designed to exploit the Thunder’s defense, and the Celtics can do enough to slow down SGA. Home-court advantage is the cherry on top.
