Charlotte Bobcats vs. Boston Celtics Preview and Pick

Charlotte Bobcats (28-30 SU 31-27 ATS) vs. Boston Celtics (37-21 SU 21-35-2 ATS) TD Garden, Boston, MA 7:30 PM EST Wednesday March 3, 2010 on CSNN
by Jason Green at Predictem.com

Point Spread: Bobcats +4.5/Celtics -4.5
Over/Under: 190

Tonight in Beantown the Boston Celtics host the Charlotte Bobcats. The big news in Charlotte lately has been Michael Jordan buying the team, but the news should be the Bobcats looking for their 1st playoff appearance, as they only trail the Miami Heat by ½ game in the Eastern Conference. The Bobcats are coming off a loss and are only 4-6 in their last 10 games.

The Celtics recently got leading scorer Paul Pierce back from a thumb injury and he helped last night in Boston's win. The Celtics are 5-5 in their last 10 games and they are in 4th place in the East only ½ game back of 3rd place Atlanta.

This season the Celtics are 16-11 at home and the Bobcats are 8-22 on the road.

The Celtics have lost 2 straight games at home and this season they have a better record on the road then they do at home. They have to get over their last home loss where they lost to the NBA's worst team in the New Jersey Nets.

The Celtics traded for PG Nate Robinson (12.8 ppg) to give them some offense off the bench and he came through last night with 14 points including hitting 3 3-point bombs in the 4th quarter.

Charlotte has to win this game with their defense, as they only rank 28th in the league in scoring.

Tonight's match up is one of the best 2 defensive teams in the league in terms of opponents' points allowed.

The Bobcats come into this game with their big guys banged up, as both centers Tyson Chandler and Nazr Mohammed are nursing injuries and are both questionable for tonight's game.

The Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons 105-100 last night in their last game. The high scorer for Boston in the game was Ray Allen going for 18 points on 6/11 shooting. For the game the Celtics 35/76 from the floor for a FG% of 46.1%. On defense the Celtics allowed the Pistons to shoot 37/79 for a FG% of 46.8%.

In their last game the Bobcats lost to the Dallas Mavericks 89-84 on Monday night. The high scorer for Charlotte was Stephen Jackson going for 20 points on 6/14 shooting. For the game the Bobcats were cold only going 29/73 from the floor for a FG% of 39.7%. On defense the Bobcats allowed the Mavericks to shoot 37/80 for a FG% of 46.3%.

This season neither team has been lighting up the scoreboard, as the Celtics rank 19th in scoring (98.5 ppg) and the Bobcats only rank 28th (94.9 ppg). On defense both of these teams shine, as the Celtics rank 1st in points allowed (94.2 ppg) and the Bobcats are right behind them ranking 2nd (94.3 ppg). The Bobcats have a rebounding differential of +0.7 rpg and the Celtics are in the negative at -1.0 rpg.

According to the Sagarin NBA ratings the Celtics rank 8th (93.64), and the Bobcats rank 16th (90.25).

Charlotte is 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games overall, 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games, and is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games against teams with a winning percentage above 60%.

Charlotte has an Under record of 3-1-1 in their last 5 games, an Under record of 3-1-1 in their last 5 road games, and an Over record of 6-1 in their last 7 games against teams with a winning percentage above 60%.

Boston is 5-15-1 ATS in their last 21 games, # 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a losing record, and 0-6 ATS in their last 6 home games against teams with a losing road record.

Boston has an Over record of 5-0 in their last 5 games, and Over record of 4-0 in their last games against teams in the Eastern Conference, and an Over record of 4-0 in their last 4 games after giving up 100 points or more in their previous game.

Charlotte is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 meetings in Boston.

On the injury front C Tyson Chandler and C Nazr Mohammed are day-to-day for Charlotte and SF Paul Pierce and C Kendrick Perkins are day-to-day for Boston.

Jason's Pick: This should be a really good game tonight. It's a tough game to pick and there is better value on the board, but if forced to make a pick here I think the best choice is for Charlotte to cover the spread.

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