Phoenix Suns vs Boston Celtics Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 09/03/2024, 08:12  by Joseph King | Modified on 09/03/2024 at 12:30 in NBA Prediction

The marquee matchup of Saturday’s NBA slate sees the Phoenix Suns hosting the Boston Celtics at the Footprint Center. At 37-26, the Suns sit sixth in the Western Conference while the 48-14 Celtics remain atop the East standings. Phoenix will be seeking its third consecutive victory after their 117-107 away overtime win over the Nuggets was followed up with a 120-113 home win over Toronto on Thursday. The Suns have now won four of their last six as they look to consolidate their top-six seeding with less than 20 games remaining in the regular season. They hold a slim half game lead over the seventh-place Kings and trail the Pelicans in fifth by just a single game. The “Big Three” of the Phoenix Suns haven’t been able to get that much court time this season, and now it’s Devin Booker who is on the injury table. Booker has missed the last three games and is doubtful to take part in this one.

After a dominant 11-game winning streak, the Celtics have hit something of a slide as they have now lost back-to-back games for only the second time all season. It hasn’t been the easiest two-game stretch for Boston who fell 105-104 to the Cavaliers which was followed up by a 115-109 defeat to the defending champion Denver Nuggets, both losses coming on the road. That’s been the one apparent weakness in the Celtics armor, with 11 of their 14 total losses coming on their travels. However, this team is still putting up one of the most dominant seasons in recent memory and this has the potential to go down as one of the franchise’s best teams. Boston is outscoring their opponents by an average of 10.9 points per game, the only team in double digits in that statistic with the Thunder being the next highest at 7.6.