With their latest win at Chicago, the Boston Celtics have clinched the Atlantic Division. With a few more wins they can also clinch the best record in the Eastern Conference as well as the entire NBA. Tonight against Atlanta they’re aiming to win a 10th game in a row, the oddsmakers have them favored at 12.5 points. Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday did not play in the win over Chicago, but that didn’t raise any issues as the Celtics came out on top 124-113. Holiday will miss tonight’s game as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury, there’s a good chance Brown and KP are back in the line-up. Boston has beaten Atlanta 11 times in the last 13 meetings, while covering the spread in 10 of those games. They’re also 4-1 ATS in their last 5 visits to State Farm Arena.
Atlanta’s play-in tournament match-up is pretty much set with 12 games remaining in the regular season. They’ll most likely face the Chicago Bulls on the road in that game, unless something dramatic happens over the remaining 2 weeks of the regular season. Over the weekend the Hawks destroyed the Charlotte Hornets 132-91, in a game in which they knocked down 20 threes and shot 55% from the field. Dejounte Murray led the way with 28 points, while 2 other bench players in Fernando and Matthews added 25 and 20. With that type of shooting they could get a win over the Celtics, but unfortunately for them the level of difficulty to score vs Boston is a lot bigger than Charlotte. Trae Young is still out with his broken finger, without him there’s not much hope of making the postseason.
