The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers renew their rivalry on Sunday as the two teams collide for the 2nd time this regular season. Tip-off is at 6.30 pm ET on ESPN, be sure to visit our NBA Picks for selection on Sunday’s 5-game slate, but now let’s dive into my SGP bet for Philly vs Boston!
PHI 76ers ML (+430)
Kristaps Porzingis 3+ Made Threes (+140)
Same Game Parlay odds: +457
PHI 76ers ML (+430)
Some people might be turned off by the odds for this bet, but the shorthanded 76ers have actually played solid basketball over the past couple of weeks going 5-0 ATS and winning 4 of their last 5 games. Tyrese Maxey is having an out-of-body experience on a nightly basis, he just dropped 42 points in a narrow 3-point home loss to the Denver Nuggets. There is positive news on the injury front for Philly as they might get Andre Drummond back for this game, which would improve their front line a bit on the defensive end.
Meanwhile, the Celtics haven’t been as invincible over the past couple of weeks as they have been in the opening 2 months of the season. We just saw them barely beat the New Orleans Pelicans on the road, thanks to a game winning shot by Jayson Tatum. Boston is just 4-8 ATS in their last 12 games, unlike Philadelphia they have very little injury concerns at this point, but despite that they’ve lost 2 of their last 5 games as favorites against the Lakers and Rockets. Philadelphia won the first meeting of the season on Christmas Day 118-114 in Boston, with Maxey scoring 33 points in that game. Granted, Embiid and George both played which won’t be the case on Sunday, but with Maxey’s current hot streak I feel like the 76ers can stick around until the end here and potentially cause an upset in the clutch.
Kristaps Porzingis 3+ Made Threes (+140)
Hailed by many as the NBA’s best 3rd option on a team, Kristaps Porzingis has certainly lived up to those words, or even exceeded them according to some. Over his last 10 games the Latvian is shooting at a mesmerizing 51.5% from three-point land on 3.5 makes from downtown per game. He’s doing all that by playing just under 29 minutes per game, which makes him one of the most productive players in the entire NBA. Just a couple of nights ago we saw him go 8-for-14 from downtown in the game against Chicago, he’s cleared this line 8 times in his last 10 outings. Against a Philadelphia team that’s allowing 36.6% of threes to go in this season, I expect more of the same from Porzingis in this game. KP was off to a flying start in that game on Christmas against the 76ers, going 3-for-6 from deep before getting injured and leaving the game after just 13 minutes of play. Philadelphia is one of his favorite opponents, over the last 10 meetings he’s scored 20+ points 7 times and is averaging 21.8 per game in 30.7 mins per game. Expect another productive night from him on Sunday.