Celtics Should Cruise Against Philly's Skeleton Crew

The Sixers are waving the white flag before tip-off. Embiid, Brown, James, Caldwell-Pope, and Simons are all sitting for "rest" in what amounts to a preseason punt. Meanwhile, Boston's rolling out Tatum, White, George, and Robinson — essentially their opening night starting five getting reps together.

Six days ago, these teams met and the Celtics absolutely boat-raced Philadelphia 144-106. Sure, preseason blowouts mean nothing until they mean everything, and that margin screams garbage-time chaos. But context matters: Boston had their guys, Philly clearly didn't care, and the result was a 38-point shellacking.

Now we're getting a similar script, yet the market only has Boston as 2.5-point road favorites? That's borderline disrespectful. Yes, it's preseason. Yes, effort is spotty. But when one team is actively developing chemistry with their core and the other is giving extended run to guys fighting for two-way contracts, the talent gap becomes a chasm.

DarkHorse likes Celtics +2.5 at moderate confidence — though honestly, if you can still find them getting points, that's a gift. Philly's treating this like a scrimmage. Boston's treating it like a dress rehearsal. Bet accordingly.