Celtics vs Cavaliers

Boston’s recent 5-2 surge around Jaylen Brown bumps into a Cleveland team that’s suddenly dropped two straight, and the combination of those trends makes the long underdog price on the Celtics worth a stab despite Jayson Tatum’s season-long absence and the road back-to-back. Cleveland is still rightly favored, but the Cavs are down multiple rotation pieces in Jarrett Allen, Max Strus, Sam Merrill, Lonzo Ball and Larry Nance Jr., which thins out their defense and shooting around Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley just as Boston’s smaller, quicker lineups have started winning the glass and getting enough playmaking from Derrick White and Anfernee Simons. Boston already handled Cleveland 125-105 in their first meeting behind Brown’s 30 and a big rebounding edge, and while flipping that result in Rocket Arena is far from a lock, the combination of current form, injury imbalance and plus-money payout makes Celtics +259 a speculative but appealing moneyline dart, worthy of a B- given the moderate hit rate but strong return if it lands. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 30/11/2025 09:38am

Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers have been in track meets lately, but with Cleveland riding a two-game skid and missing multiple perimeter shooters plus Jarrett Allen inside, while Boston arrives off a 119-115 grinder in Minnesota and continues to play without Tatum, this total at 232 feels inflated. The earlier matchup between these teams landed on 230 despite Boston shooting well and controlling the glass, and now both offenses are leaning heavily on a few creators — Mitchell and Mobley for Cleveland, Brown and White for Boston — against scouting reports that have already seen this matchup once. Fatigue for the Celtics on the road, a thinned-out Cavs rotation, and the likelihood that Cleveland looks to tighten the screws defensively after giving up 120+ in back-to-back losses all tilt this toward a slightly slower, more halfcourt-heavy game than the number suggests, making Under 232 at near-even juice a solid B play with a respectable edge but still vulnerable to late-game foul-fest variance. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 30/11/2025 09:38am

Boston catching +8.5 points feels generous given that the Celtics have quietly stabilized around Brown, White and Simons — winning five of their last seven and losing by only four in Minnesota last night — while Cleveland, even at 12-8, has stumbled in its last two and now has to cover a big number with a gutted supporting cast around Mitchell and Mobley. The first meeting saw Boston win by 20 thanks to its physicality on the glass and ability to pull Cleveland’s bigs into space, and with Allen, Strus and several depth pieces sidelined, the Cavs are even more reliant on star shot-making and less equipped to punish Boston’s smaller front line. The home crowd and revenge angle do matter, and a back-to-back on the road is a real tax on Boston’s legs, but the current form, the matchup history, and the injury sheet all point to this being more of a tight, possession-by-possession contest than the spread implies, so taking Celtics +8.5 at -111 grades out as a B+ value with a strong chance to cash and a modest but fair payout. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 30/11/2025 09:38am