Celtics vs Pacers NBA Betting Line for Week 12

It’s a potential Eastern Conference playoff preview on Monday night and expect a ton of points to be scored as the NBA-best Boston Celtics visit the highest-scoring team in the league in Indiana in an immediate rematch of a surprisingly low-scoring game. The Celtics are solid favorites on the NBA odds. 2024 NBA Expert Analysis Boston vs. Indiana | MyBookie Sportsbook NBA Week 12

How to Bet Celtics at Pacers NBA Odds & TV Info

When: Monday, 7 PM ET
Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse
TV: NBA League Pass
Stream: NBA.com, NBA TV app
Radio: Tunein.com
NBA Odds: Celtics -1 (total TBA)

Series History

Boston leads all-time 108-84 after winning 118-101 at Indiana on Saturday. The Celtics lead 2-1 this season, and they will play once more on Jan. 30 in Boston – although a playoff matchup is very possible.

Why Bet on Boston Celtics?

In Saturday’s 17-point win in Indianapolis, Jayson Tatum had 38 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. He drained a season-high eight three-pointers. Tatum has started out 2024 with three straight 30-point games, including two double-doubles. He fell one rebound shy of making it three double-doubles on Friday, but he only played 25 minutes in the blowout win. Tatum is the only player in the NBA who scored 10,000 total points over the past five seasons (incl. playoffs).

In the last month, Tatum’s taken on more and more responsibilities as the Celtics’ offensive hub rather than just a scorer. And while his three-point shot waned, the other areas of his game improved. Boston’s offense tops the league over the course of the last month with a 125.9 offensive rating.

“You should get better as the season goes on,” Tatum said after Boston’s win in Indiana. “You don’t want to be at your best in October. You want it to be a progression. You’re going to make mistakes, but learn from them, play through them, and correct them. And hopefully, a month from now, I’ll be playing better than I am right now.”

After two poor performances to start the new year, Brown had a big game on Saturday. He scored 28 points total over his previous two games, but he got back on track and scored 31 against the Pacers. Al Horford started the second half at center and finished with 10 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Horford started because Kristaps Porzingis only played 6:14 before he left the contest due to an eye injury. He was trying to gain possession after blocking an Aaron Nesmith shot in the paint, where the Pacers guard swiped Porzingis’ right eye. The 28-year-old quickly made his way to the visitors’ locker room and did not return.

Porzingis is questionable for Monday. This isn’t the first injury of the season for Porzingis, who hasn’t played more than 65 games in a campaign since his sophomore slate in 2016-17. He missed nine of Boston’s first 35 games due to calf and knee ailments. The Unicorn is averaging 20.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.8 blocks per contest while shooting 53.6% from the field and 33.1% from the three-point range.

Boston’s starting unit of Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday is 16-1 together this season, and have the second-best 5-man unit net rating in the NBA (min. 250 minutes played). Led by Horford, Boston’s second unit ranks third in three-point percentage (39.2), fourth in offensive rebounds (5.4), fourth in plus/minus (2.3), and has had the second-fewest turnovers (4.2).

Why Bet on Indiana Pacers?

Saturday’s 118-101 loss to Boston snapped a six-game winning streak for Indiana. Boston, which came into the game third in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense (.449) and third in rebound rate, limited the Pacers to a season-low point total and outrebounded them 70-42.

“We missed a lot of shots,” Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said. “They’re a really good defensive team, but we shot a lot of shots that we like. Just didn’t capitalize on them.”

Haliburton has had a breakout season but struggled Saturday with 17 points on 5-for-17 shooting but added seven assists, six rebounds and five steals as his streak of games with double-digit assists ended at 11. However, he was able to set a new season high for steals, which was the most swipes that he has had in a game since October of 2022. Haliburton is the first player in NBA history to record multiple games with 25+ points, 15+ assists and zero turnovers, and has done so three times this season.

Haliburton leads the NBA with an average of 12.7 assists this season. That mark would be the most in a season since John Stockton in 1991-92 (13.7). Haliburton has recorded double-doubles in 26 games – most among NBA guards. He has 10 games with at least 15 assists, the most in a season in franchise history and most by any player since Russell Westbrook in 2020-21 (14).

Buddy Hield had 15 points and got the start Saturday with Bruce Brown (knee) sidelined, and while he posted decent scoring numbers, the fact that he made just three of his 10 shots from beyond the arc should be concerning. Hield lives and dies by his three-point shooting. With three made three-pointers on Saturday, Hield moved into sixth place in Pacers NBA franchise history in 3-pointers made ahead of C.J. Miles (465) and Chuck Person (466).

Bennedict Mathurin provided a boost off the bench with 20 points. The Pacers currently have eight players who are averaging 10 or more points per game and have received key contributions off the bench from several players all season. The Pacers are 17-4 this season when six or more players score in double figures.

Jalen Smith has scored in double figures in nine appearances off the bench this season for an average of 10.2 points per game. He is shooting 66 percent from the field this season. Aaron Nesmith set a new career high with 26 points off the bench in the win at Cleveland, 10/28. He has scored 20 or more points off the bench three times this season and reached double figures 18 times overall (13-5 record). He ranks sixth in the NBA this season in 3-point percentage at 45.3 percent.

Andrew Nembhard ranks eighth in the NBA with 4.2 assists per game off the bench. T.J. McConnell ranks seventh in the NBA with an assists-per-turnover ratio of 4.41. Isaiah Jackson leads all bench players and ranks 20th overall in the NBA with 1.21 blocks per game.

The Pacers have reached 140 or more points eight times (8-0 record) – which is the most in franchise history – 130 or more points 14 times this season (12-2) and 120 or more 27 times (20-7). Starting center Myles Turner currently ranks seventh in the NBA in blocks with 2.2 per game while the Pacers rank third as a team with 6.3 per game.

Celtics vs Pacers Expert Prediction

Pacers 124, Celtics 120

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