NBA Betting – Celtics Set to Staple LAC

Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Clippers (-4, 208 o/u)

The Boston Celtics (43-30, 18-18 Away) and Los Angeles Clippers (45-27, 24-12 Home) have a lot in common: both are riding win-streaks and sit fourth in their respective conferences. But the stakes for each side will be starkly different when they clash tonight at the Staples Center (10:30 PM Eastern).

The Celtics have won four straight (3-1 ATS), but sit just half a game up on Miami – and half a game behind Atlanta – in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Clippers have won two in a row (after dropping five of six), but look to be cemented into the number four spot in the West. They trail third-place OKC by 4.5 games and have a 4.5-game lead on the fifth-place Grizzlies.

LA will still want to enter the postseason with some rhythm and the team’s 105-90 win over the Nuggets on Sunday was its best showing in weeks. Center DeAndre Jordan led the way with 16 points and 16 rebounds.  The victory officially clinched a playoff spot for the Clippers for the fifth straight season, which came as a surprise to much of the locker room.

“It does matter when you consistently just assume you’re going to the playoffs, but we want to do more than that, of course,” coach Doc Rivers told the team’s official website. “That’s why no one knew that we clinched, which is good. It’s a good sign when you don’t know anymore; maybe that’s the sign we’re looking for.”

Los Angeles and Boston met once already this season with the Celtics taking a 139-134 shootout in OT.

The Clippers have gotten the better of the recent head-to-head at home, going 5-2 SU in the seven, but Boston is 12-6-1 ATS in recent history at Staples. I’ll take the more desperate – and hotter – Celtics to cover.

Pick: Celtics (+4).

(Photo Credit: Malingering (http://www.flickr.com/photos/malingering/75805821/) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)