Tip-off: Friday, 10:00 p.m. ET
Line: TBD

Two of the teams that struggled in the first half of the year, the Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings, meet after the break in hopes for a better finish to the season.

While the Celtics had a rough start to the year, they have become more comfortable as a team and won four of their past five contests before the break. They covered in all five of those games and have been great to bettors recently with covers in 11 of their past 13 attempts. The recent wins came against some bottom-dwellers in the East, but their latest victory was impressive as they took down the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks by a score of 89-88 as 6.5-point underdogs at home. Boston overcame a horrible shooting performance (32% FG) as it outscored Atlanta 28-16 in the final quarter behind 56 rebounds. The Kings have certainly been dealing with issues this year and they transition to a new coach after losing 13 of their last 15 games going into the break. Over that period they went 6-9 ATS and hit triple digits just six times as they allowed 105.5 PPG. The losing continued in their most recent contest when they traveled to Milwaukee and lost 111-103 as big 10-point ‘dogs. They allowed the Bucks to make 48.8% of their shots and couldn’t overcome their 18 turnovers in the defeat. The Celtics have really struggled in their time on the road, going 8-16 SU (16-8 ATS) when away from home as the Kings are 11-17 SU (10-17-1 ATS) in front of their fans. These clubs met back on New Year’s Eve and it was all Boston in a 106-84 beatdown at home as they were getting two points. Sacramento made a mere 32-of-87 shots (37% FG) in the loss and was equally as poor from long range (2-for-15) and the charity stripe (18-for-28). Meanwhile, the Celtics showed some nice depth with three of their reserves hitting double-digit points with the team shooting a solid 46.8%.

The young Boston team has not done too poorly on the offensive end, scoring 100.8 PPG (11th in league) as it makes 44.6% of its shots. Unfortunately, the inexperience has the Celtics amongst the worst in the league on defense as they are allowing opponents to put up 102.3 PPG (6th-worst in league) behind 45% shooting. PF Jared Sullinger (14.4 PPG, 8.1 RPG) has really emerged as a scoring threat this year and has hit 50% of his attempts in the past five games as he is coming off a tremendous performance (17 points, 15 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block) right before the break. He also was big in the win over Sacramento earlier in the year, scoring 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting as he added 11 rebounds and three blocks in just 27 minutes. SG Avery Bradley (13.4 PPG) has scored in double-digits in each of the last 12 games and has averaged a solid 16.5 PPG since the start of February. He wasn’t on the floor long (23 minutes) in the big win against the Kings on New Year’s Eve, but was efficient (4-for-8) as he scored nine points. SG Evan Turner (8.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 4.6 APG) is able to fill up the stat sheet in all areas each night and had a near triple-double (12 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists) along with the game winner against the Hawks in his last time out. He also performed well (10 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) in limited minutes (23) as the Celtics defeated Sacramento back in December.

The Kings definitely have some firepower on the offensive end but have not consistently been able to put up points as they are averaging 100.0 PPG (16th in league) on 45.1% shooting. Defensively, they have really struggled, letting the opposition net 104.2 PPG (4th-worst in league) behind 45.2% shooting. C DeMarcus Cousins (23.8 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 1.7 BPG) rightfully earned an invite to the All-Star game after showing some impressive skills every single night and had a huge line (28 points, 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks) in a loss to Milwaukee most recently. He did have a double-double (11 points, 11 rebound) against Boston this year, but made just 5-of-17 shots in the process. SF Rudy Gay (19.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.1 SPG) hit 17-of-30 shots in his last two contests (20.5 PPG) and had issues with his shot (4-of-19) as he added a mere nine points and seven rebounds when facing the Celtics earlier in the season. PG Darren Collison (16.1 PPG, 5.6 APG, 1.5 SPG) should return from injury after the lengthy All-Star break and his consistent scoring will be welcomed back with open arms. If he does make it back, he will hope to play better this time around against Boston after a sub-par performance (14 points, 5 assists) in his last meeting with them.