The Most Important Matchups and Best Bets for Tuesday’s NBA Slate
We’re nearing the end of the NBA regular season, and we have a massive 11-game slate on tap for Tuesday. The action gets underway with a pair of contests at 7 p.m. ET and wraps up with a trio of games that tip-off at 10 p.m. ET.
One of the most important games on Tuesday’s slate features the Heat and the Celtics. These teams are battling for the final guaranteed playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. That said, the Celtics have a few key injuries, and they’re currently listed as one-point underdogs on FanDuel Sportsbook. Can they pull off the upset?
Let’s dive in.
KEY MATCHUPS
The battle for the final guaranteed spot in the East should be a doozy. The Knicks, Hawks, and Heat are all separated by one game in the standings, and those teams currently occupy the fourth through sixth spots in the conference. The Celtics are two games back of the Heat for the No. 6 seed, so they could cut into that deficit with a win on Tuesday.
However, they’ll have to do it without two of their usual starters. Jaylen Brown recently underwent wrist surgery, and he’s been ruled out for the remainder of the season. Robert Williams has also been ruled out vs. the Heat due to turf toe. Those are two usual starters for the Celtics, so they’ll be facing an uphill battle vs. the Heat.
That said, the sportsbooks may be overstating their absences at the moment. The Celtics haven’t been that much worse with Brown off the court this season. Their Net Rating decreases by just -1.1 points per 100 possessions, and they do have some players capable of picking up the slack. Evan Fournier, in particular, has done a nice job filling in for Brown recently, and the Celtics’ have increased their Net Rating by +2.8 points per 100 possessions with Fournier on the court.
I’m not saying that the Celtics won’t miss Brown – he’s one of the best young players in the league – but they do have sufficient depth to cover for him.
The same goes for Williams. Tristan Thompson should draw the start in his absence, and the team has been slightly better with Thompson on the court than Williams.
The betting activity also points to the Celtics being the correct side. They were two-point underdogs earlier in the day, but they’re down to just +1 at the time of writing. The Celtics are receiving a minimal amount of betting tickets in their favor, suggesting that they’re getting the professional action instead.
LINE MOVEMENT
There has already been some significant line movement on today’s slate.
The largest line move involves the Clippers. They opened as 11.5-point road favorites vs. the Raptors, but they’ve gotten as high as -14 on FanDuel Sportsbook.
The reason for the line movement is the Raptors’ injury report. They’ve ruled out Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby, and Chris Boucher is also listed as questionable. That doesn’t leave them with a ton of NBA-level players on their roster.
BETTING BREAKDOWNS
BEST BETS FROM THE SPORTSGRID BETTING MODEL
Find out who our betting model likes in each of tonight’s 11 NBA contests, including 76ers vs. Pacers and Suns vs. Warriors.