Who’s Playing
Boston Celtics @ Orlando Magic
Current Records: Boston 22-6, Orlando 18-12
How To Watch
- When: Monday, December 23, 2024 at 7 p.m. ET
- Where: Kia Center — Orlando, Florida
- TV: FanDuel SN – Florida
- Follow: CBS Sports App
- Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
- Ticket Cost: $69.35
What to Know
The Celtics will be playing the full four quarters on Monday, but they’re expected to have things wrapped up well before that. They will head out on the road to challenge the Orlando Magic at 7:00 p.m. ET at Kia Center. The Celtics are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 119.6 points per game this season.
Last Saturday, everything went the Celtics’ way against the Bulls as the Celtics made off with a 123-98 win.
Jayson Tatum continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, shooting 9-for-15 from deep and dropping a triple-double on 43 points, 15 rebounds, and ten assists. His evening made it three games in a row in which he has scored at least 30 points. Derrick White, on the other hand, was considerably less helpful: he went 0-6 from long range.
The Celtics smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds. That’s the most offensive rebounds they’ve posted since back in October.
Meanwhile, the Magic came into Saturday’s contest having lost three straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They walked away with a 121-114 victory over the Heat on Saturday. The win was all the more spectacular given Orlando was down by 25 with 5:17 left in the second quarter.
The Magic’s win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Cole Anthony, who almost dropped a double-double on 35 points and nine assists. Anthony’s performance made up for a slower game against the Thunder on Thursday. The team also got some help courtesy of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who had 24 points in addition to two blocks.
Boston is on a roll lately: they’ve won 13 of their last 16 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 22-6 record this season. As for Orlando, their victory bumped their record up to 18-12.
Keep an eye on the arc in Monday’s match: The Celtics have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 18.7 threes per game. It’s a different story for the Magic, though, as they’ve been averaging only 11.5. Given the Celtics’ sizable advantage in that area, the Magic will need to find a way to close that gap.
The Celtics strolled past the Magic in their previous matchup back in December of 2023 by a score of 114-97. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Celtics since the squad won’t have the home-court advantage this time around. We’ll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Odds
Boston is a big 10-point favorite against Orlando, according to the latest NBA odds.
The line on this game has moved quite a bit since it opened, as it started out with the Celtics as a 6-point favorite.
The over/under is 215 points.
See NBA picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine’s advanced computer model. Get picks now.
Series History
Boston has won 6 out of their last 10 games against Orlando.
- Dec 17, 2023 – Boston 114 vs. Orlando 97
- Dec 15, 2023 – Boston 128 vs. Orlando 111
- Nov 24, 2023 – Orlando 113 vs. Boston 96
- Jan 23, 2023 – Orlando 113 vs. Boston 98
- Dec 18, 2022 – Orlando 95 vs. Boston 92
- Dec 16, 2022 – Orlando 117 vs. Boston 109
- Oct 22, 2022 – Boston 126 vs. Orlando 120
- Feb 06, 2022 – Boston 116 vs. Orlando 83
- Jan 02, 2022 – Boston 116 vs. Orlando 111
- Nov 03, 2021 – Boston 92 vs. Orlando 79
