Boston Celtics vs Washington Wizards: Celtics more likely to win

Just over a year ago, Boston lost at home to Washington, and now the Celtics are considered the clear favorites to face the Wizards. The teams are tied in the standings after 5 games — who will get the lead?

After 3 straight wins at the start of the regular season, the Celtics have alternately lost to Cleveland and Chicago, they now share 4th place in the East with two teams. Boston is one of the best in the NBA's offensive rankings, but only 28th on defense, even though the Celtics have always been considered defensive specialists. Perhaps it's the injuries, as Robert Williams won't be back in the lineup anytime soon. Danilo Gallinari is much less useful in his own half, but his shots from beyond the arc will come in handy. Even without the Italian forward, Boston is shooting 38.8 percent from three-point range, 7th best in the NBA. Grant Williams returns to the roster after getting suspended, but Malcolm Brogdon may not make it to the floor. By the way, even with Brogdon's return, the Celtics are 19th in the league in average assists per game, so there are questions about the team's play.

In their recent game against Cleveland, Joe Mazzulla's men outscored their opponent in assists per game but still lost, 123-122. One of the decisive baseline shots in regulation was missed by Jayson Tatum, which sent the game into overtime. Tatum and Brown missed a lot from midrange, though both shot at least 50 percent from the field and scored 32 points apiece. The bench was shaky though, and Grant Williams' absence surely had an impact as well.

Wes Unseld Jr. is known for his ability to play defense and his defense has helped his team to 3 wins in 5 regular season starts. The most important player on his end has been Delon Wright who is among the NBA leaders in steals (2.8 per game) but he is out due to injury. Corey Kispert is absent from the roster as well but even without him Washington is making 37.2 percent of his three-pointers and ranks 12th in the league in 3-point percentage. The main shooters of the club so far are the newcomers of the offseason Will Barton and Monte Morris, as well as Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian big man sometimes makes up for his lack of aggressiveness under the basket, hitting well from beyond the arc and from mid-range.

In the recent game against Indiana, Bradley Beal scored 31 points, his record for this season. The star's effort wasn't enough to win the game as the Wizards lost 117-127. The Metropolitan club defended poorly from beyond the arc and even 40% of their three-point shooting wasn't enough to make up for their mistakes on defense. Kyle Kuzma was reckless in the paint and missed many passes and Monte Morris didn't play well either

The Celtics have won five of their last ten games. Based on this trend, Boston's win including overtime for 1.22 at Betway should be interesting.

The Boston Celtics have scored over 110 points in 2 out of the last 3 games, so it might be worth trying their Individual Total Over 116.5 points for 2.065 at 1xbet.

Boston recently had a very difficult game against Cleveland. The defeat was an upsetting one, and now the Celtics are eager to make amends. The return of Grant Williams should strengthen the Celtics' defense, and Derrick White, Marcus Smart and Payton Pritchard should make up for the absence of Malcolm Brogdon. Even despite the good play of Porzingis and Beal, Washington did not cope with Indiana, now both will be much more difficult to score points. Our prediction for the game is as follows:

• TU (224.5) for 1.668;
• H1 (-7.5) for 1.80;
• W1 by 21+ Points for 6.00.

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