NBA match predictions for Celtics-Wizards, other potential games originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The NBA play-in tournament added a lot of excitement at the end of the regular season by making many weekend games really count.
Now that the matches for the first two games of each conference are set, it’s time to make some predictions.
Our friends at SportsRadar calculated their odds of playoff victory for the initial four games, in addition to potential clashes later in the week.
Gorman to enter HOF as 2021 Curt Gowdy Award recipient
SportsRadar has the Celtics as very lightweight favorites for beat the Washington Wizards Tuesday night at TD Garden. The Wizards were 1-2 against the Cs in the regular season, but have been scorching in the streak with a 16-7 record in their last 23 games.
The extremely talented Wizards backcourt duo of Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook could pose a lot of defensive problems for the Celtics as well. Beal was the league’s second-highest scorer and Westbrook averaged a triple-double for the season. Beal, however, treats a hamstring injury.
All the Celtics have to do is beat the Wizards and earn the 7th seed in the first round, where they would play the Brooklyn Nets.
If the Celtics lost to the Wizards, they would play the winner of the Charlotte Hornets play-in match against Indiana Pacers. SportsRadar is very fond of Boston’s chances of beating Charlotte or Indiana. If the Celtics beat any of those teams, they would secure the No.8 seed and face the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round.
Two play-in losses for the Celtics would see them miss the playoffs and enter the draft lottery.
Find out all the odds of winning SportsRadar Play-in games in the table below.
Real games |
Outdoor team |
Home team |
Prediction |
|
Tuesday May 18 |
N ° 9 against N ° 10 |
Hornets |
Pacers |
Pacers 62%, Hornets 38% |
N ° 7 against N ° 8 |
Assistants |
Celtics |
Magicians 49%, Celtics 51% |
|
Wednesday May 19 |
N ° 9 against N ° 10 |
Spurs |
Grizzlies |
Grizzlies 64%, spurs 36% |
N ° 7 against N ° 8 |
Warriors |
Lakers |
Warriors 31%, Lakers 69% |
|
Potential games |
Outdoor team |
Home team |
Prediction |
|
Thursday, May 20 |
Winner of 9/10 vs Loser of 7/8 |
Pacers |
Assistants |
Pacers 45%, assistants 55% |
Winner of 9/10 vs Loser of 7/8 |
Pacers |
Celtics |
Pacers 41%, Celtics 59% |
|
Winner of 9/10 vs Loser of 7/8 |
Hornets |
Assistants |
Hornets 46%, wizards 54% |
|
Winner of 9/10 vs Loser of 7/8 |
Hornets |
Celtics |
Hornets 38%, Celtics 62% |