The 2022-23 NBA season tips off on Tuesday and a big Eastern Conference match-up has the honor of opening the campaign as the Boston Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Sixers are set to be led by Joel Embiid and James Harden again and bookmaker Bovada sees them both having a productive season debut, offering odds at -300 for Embiid to register a double-double and at -130 for Harden to get a double-double. The odds are at +200 for Jayson Tatum to start the season with a double-double and you can back Jaylen Brown to notch a double-double with odds at +300.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: October 17th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
The two teams met four times last season and split the regular-season series with each side getting two wins. The Celtics went on to have a fabulous playoff run that culminated in their first Finals appearance since 2010. Philadelphia ended up crashing out in the second round and the team should be very fired up to improve in 2022-23.
The Sixers’ core remains the same, but there are a couple of notable additions in the squad with De’Anthony Melton having arrived via a trade and P. J. Tucker and Montrezl Harrell signing as free agents. These are very solid depth pieces to compliment Embiid and Harden.
Embiid enters his seventh season in the league, but he still hasn’t made it past the second round. He produced a monster year last season with a career-high 30.6 scoring average, but Miami was too hot to handle for Philly in the playoffs.
Philadelphia’s star center has been a headache for the C’s throughout his career averaging 26.1 points and 12.1 rebounds against them. He could have another field day on Tuesday as Boston’s front-court is significantly weakened by the absence of Robert Williams, who is recovering from knee surgery.
Boston has a few fresh faces in the mix as well and the team made a big move in the summer by trading for Malcolm Brogdon. He’s expected to take some of the offensive load off from Tatum and Brown while also giving the Celtics an extra playmaker who is also known for good leadership skills.
The Celtics will hope that there won’t be any chemistry issues now that Tatum and Brown have to share the ball more. The team had a rough start a year ago due to things not clicking as well as they were supposed to and avoiding it this time around should be one of Boston’s main goals for the season.
