Halftime Report
Only two more quarters stand between the Celtics and the win they were favored to collect coming into this evening. A victory is still up for grabs for either team after two quarters, but the Celtics are up 71-68 over the Bulls.
If the Celtics keep playing like this, they’ll bump their record up to 22-5 in no time. On the other hand, the Bulls will have to make due with a 12-16 record unless they turn things around (and fast).
Who’s Playing
Chicago Bulls @ Boston Celtics
Current Records: Chicago 12-15, Boston 21-5
How To Watch
- When: Thursday, December 19, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. ET
- Where: TD Garden — Boston, Massachusetts
- TV: Chicago Sport Network
- Follow: CBS Sports App
- Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
- Ticket Cost: $101.00
What to Know
The Celtics will be playing the full four quarters on Thursday, but they’re expected to have things wrapped up well before that. Armed with a few days’ rest, they will face off against the Chicago Bulls at 7:30 p.m. ET at TD Garden. The Celtics are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 119.9 points per game this season.
The Celtics are headed into this one after the oddsmakers set last week’s over/under low at 234, but even that wound up being too high. They enjoyed a cozy 112-98 victory over the Wizards on Sunday. Boston pushed the score to 91-72 by the end of the third, a deficit Washington cut but never quite recovered from.
The Celtics smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That’s the most offensive rebounds they’ve posted since back in October.
Meanwhile, in a tight matchup that could have gone either way, the Bulls made off with a 122-121 win over the Raptors. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Chicago.
The Bulls’ success was spearheaded by the efforts of Nikola Vucevic, who went 10 for 17 en route to 24 points plus five rebounds and two blocks, and Josh Giddey, who almost dropped a double-double on 11 points and nine rebounds.
Boston is on a roll lately: they’ve won 12 of their last 14 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 21-5 record this season. As for Chicago, their victory bumped their record up to 12-15.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday’s match: The Celtics have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 19 threes per game. However, it’s not like the Bulls struggle in that department as they’ve been averaging 16.5. Given these competing strengths, it’ll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
The Celtics beat the Bulls 138-129 in their previous matchup back in November. Will the Celtics repeat their success, or do the Bulls have a better game plan this time around? We’ll find out soon enough.
Odds
Boston is a big 14.5-point favorite against Chicago, according to the latest NBA odds.
The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 14.5-point spread, and stayed right there.
The over/under is 241.5 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 8 out of their last 10 games against Chicago.
- Nov 29, 2024 – Boston 138 vs. Chicago 129
- Mar 23, 2024 – Boston 124 vs. Chicago 113
- Feb 22, 2024 – Boston 129 vs. Chicago 112
- Nov 28, 2023 – Boston 124 vs. Chicago 97
- Jan 09, 2023 – Boston 107 vs. Chicago 99
- Nov 21, 2022 – Chicago 121 vs. Boston 107
- Nov 04, 2022 – Boston 123 vs. Chicago 119
- Oct 24, 2022 – Chicago 120 vs. Boston 102
- Apr 06, 2022 – Boston 117 vs. Chicago 94
- Jan 15, 2022 – Boston 114 vs. Chicago 112
