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Bet on the first-half over to hit when Celtics and Kings meet Tuesday night

Betting key for Tuesday's Celtics-Kings game is in the first-half total.

Domantas Sabonis and the Sacramento Kings take on the Boston Celtics Tuesday night in a matchup of two of the NBA's best teams. What's our favorite bet in this game? (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Domantas Sabonis and the Sacramento Kings take on the Boston Celtics Tuesday night in a matchup of two of the NBA's best teams. What's our favorite bet in this game? (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)Read moreezra shaw / Getty Images
    by Bill Bradley, Action Network
    Published 

The Boston Celtics are one of the biggest conundrums in the NBA this month.

The defending Eastern Conference champions have one of the best records in the league (49-23), good enough for second place in the conference. However, they have stumbled to a 6-5 record in March as they visit the hottest team in the league, the Sacramento Kings, on Tuesday.

The betting key for this heavyweight matchup is not in the result, but the first-half total.

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Boston Celtics at Sacramento Kings first-half odds (FanDuel)

Point spread: Boston -2.5

Moneyline: Boston -184; Sacramento +148

Total: 123 points

Any other season, a late-season stop in Sacramento would be just what Celtics needed to cure a bad case of the late-season blues. After all, the Kings haven’t made the playoffs since 2006.

How long ago was that? The Hornets were temporarily in Oklahoma City and the Thunder were still the Seattle SuperSonics.

This season the Kings have the second best record in the Western Conference and have done so behind the best first-half scoring in the league. They have averaged 61 points in the first half and at home it’s even better at 63.2.

Plus, Sacramento has averaged 57.7 first-half points a game in its last three games — all on the road. And they have won seven of their last 10 after falling in Utah on Monday night.

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The Celtics are no first-half slouches, either. They are averaging 60.4 points per game, which ranks fourth in the league. Their road average is not too far off that mark (59.4, also fourth best) and their last three games — also all on the road — has been a 57.0 average.

It doesn’t hurt that the Celtics have two of the top 10 first-half scorers this season in Jayson Tatum (14.6 points) and Jaylen Brown (13.6). The Kings counter with Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes combining for 30.2 first-half points.

Since, the Celtics allow 57.0 first-half points on the road while the Kings give up 60.1 at home, look for the offenses to be unleashed early. And don’t be afraid of the Kings playing the second half of a back-to-back since this is a possible Finals matchup and everyone will want to show off on the NBA TV national telecast.

Even though the first-half total is higher than we like (123), you can be comfortable playing it up to 125 since both teams will want to sprint to a halftime lead. High-scoring offenses + no defenses equal an over.

One oddity about this play: The Celtics are a first-half favorite (-184), so consider a same-game parlay with the total.

The pick: Over first half total

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