Game Time: 10:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 7th, 2021 

Venue:  Staples Center, Los Angeles, California

Where to Watch: TNT 

DraftKings:  Spread:  NL

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Lakers -2.5 O/U 218.5

Celts: 13-11, 8th place Eastern Conference

LAL: 12-12, 8th place Western Conference

 

Lakers vs Celtics matchups have always been the storied rivalry of the NBA.  This NBA season neither team is very good.  In fact both teams are downright average.  Both teams are waiting for their superstar or two or three to be healthy and playing at the same time.  Both teams had a lousy November. Both squads seem to only win if a role player steps up and gives maximum effort.  It’s still a great rivalry… it still counts even though neither of these teams will win the championship this year.

Jim Feist has isolated one game in the NBA Western Conference tonight where one team holds the edge and key to cover this matchup. Join a Vegas betting veteran with nearly five decades of winning experience and WIN with JIM tonight on his NBA Western Conference Game of the Week. Get Jim Feist’s picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

The Celtics are 13-11 on the season, but 14-10 ATS.  They have logged 10 Overs, 13 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 7-7 on the road.  Last game the Celtics tore apart the Portland Trail Blazers 145-117… of course that Blazers team was missing point guard Damian Lilliard who has an abdominal (trade negotiations) strain.  CJ McCollum wasn't enough by himself.

The Lakers are 12-12 on the season, but 8-16 ATS.  They have notched 14 Overs, 9 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 8-7 at home.  A home game for the Lakers is at Staples Center… or Crypto.com Center?... or Crypto.com Arena?

The Boston Celtics are 13th in the NBA in scoring with 108.9, 15th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7, and 7th in Blocks with 5.7.  They are shooting poorly, 21st in FG% and 20th in 3PT%... what bails them out is that they are 2nd in free throw percentage 82.6% and 4th in rebounds.  

The LA Lakers are 4th in points per game with 111.7 per game, 6th in rebounds with 46.3 per game, 5th in blocks with 5.8.  They are 9th in FG%, 14th in 3PT%... and a low 27th in free throw percentage with 73.5.  The big problem this year for the Lakers is they are 29th in the league in defense!  Practically last.  They allow 113.4 points per game.  Opponents run over them.  Yes, LaBron has been out a few games, yes Westbrook has never played defense… but Anthony Davis should take this ranking personally.

 

Our prediction for Tuesday, December 7th is….  Lakers 118 - Celtics 109

The Lakers don’t inspire a lot of confidence, but LeBron is back and too many quality Celtics will be on the injured list.  The Lakers will be getting back into the swing of things with this game specifically as it is on TNT… also Talen-Horton Tucker is back and that will help the offense a bit more.

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Boston is 5-0 ATS versus the Lakers over the last 3 seasons.

4 of 5 games in this series have gone OVER the point total.

Boston is 2-0 ATS versus the Lakers at the Lakers over the last 3 seasons.

Both games in this series have gone OVER the point total.

Celtics: SG Romeo Langford (ankle) Out, C Al Horford (back) Out, SG Jaylen Brown (conditioning) Out

Lakers: SG Avery Bradley (thumb) Out, SF Trevor Ariza (ankle) Out, PG Kendrick Nunn (knee) Out

Celtics: F Jayson Tatum, F Grant Williams, C Robert Williams III, G Marcus Smart, G Dennis Schroder

Lakers: F Anthony Davis, F LeBron James, C Dwight Howard, G Russell Westbrook, G Talen-Horton Tucker

Celtics

Points: Jayson Tatum 25.2

Assists: Marcus Smart 5.5

Rebounds: Jayson Tatum 8.8

Steals: Marcus Smart 2.1

Blocks: Robert Williams III 1.9

Lakers

Points: LeBron James 25.6

Assists: Russell Westbrook 8.6

Rebounds: Anthony Davis 10.0

Steals: LeBron James 1.8

Blocks: Anthony Davis 2.2