Boston Celtics at Milwaukee Bucks
Boston’s “Three Party” of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett has turned into an “over the hill” social hangover.
All three members of the Big Three are posting their lowest scoring totals since their rookie seasons and Rajon Rondo is the only player in a Celtic uniform pulling his weight these days.
The aging squad struggled to defeat the lowly Wizards on Sunday, trailing by 13 with six minutes left, which was only four games removed from an embarrassing 104-96 home loss to the Nets.
“We’ve lost so many of these where we played poorly and lost,” Doc Rivers said after the come-from-behind victory Sunday. “It was nice to play poorly and win. I just wish we could have played the first 40 minutes, like we played the last eight.”
That was about the umpteenth time Rivers has used the word “poorly” to describe his team this year. Rondo said a few weeks ago that there hasn’t been the same Celtic vibe and pride in the locker room as there has been in the last couple of seasons.
This is clearly not the same Boston squad that won the NBA championship two years ago and it has not been kind to bettors recently, going 11-19 ATS since the New Year.
And honestly, how can you bet against the Bucks at this point? Milwaukee has covered the spread in 10 straight and is 21-4 ATS in its last 25 games.
Pick: Bucks
Miami Heat at Charlotte Bobcats
Dwyane Wade and the Heat will almost certainly score more than the 65 points they posted against the Bobcats on Jan. 20.
In that dismal affair, Miami shot less than 30 percent from the floor, only hit 2-of-23 three-point attempts and was a smidgen better than 60 percent from the charity stripe as a team.
So was it an off-night for the Heat or was Charlotte’s defence that good? Maybe a little bit of both.
Miami (96.3) and Charlotte (94.8) rank No. 26 and 28 in the Association in scoring, but are also in the Top 5 in scoring defence with both teams surrendering fewer than 96 points per outing.
The Bobcats have gone under the total five consecutive times and only one total was posted at higher than 194. Charlotte held opponents to 91.0 ppg during that stretch.
Prior to three straight overs, where the Heat played up-tempo teams like Golden State and Atlanta (also one OT game with L.A.), the under had cashed in 9-of-10 Miami contests.
Points will come at a premium in the Southeast showdown on Tuesday.
Pick: Under