NBA Christmas Day Celtics vs. Lakers odds, props, predictions: LeBron James, Jayson Tatum player props

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NBA Christmas Day always delivers the goods, and in the middle of a five-game day comes the perpetual battle between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers in LA at 2pm PST.

We’ll go through the odds for this game and make our betting picks based on what’s available, including player prop predictions for LeBron James and Jayson Tatum.

You can see the latest NBA Championship odds below, with the Celtics leading the pack and the Lakers in the top 10.

You can see the most recent Celtics vs. Lakers odds above, as Boston is favored by 2.5 points on the road in Los Angeles.

This is a bit of a surprise considering the recent streaks both teams have been on, with the Celtics 8-2 in their last 10 games, and the Lakers at 5-5 but having just broken a four-game losing streak against the Thunder on Saturday.

And it took a herculean effort from LeBron to get them that win, as he dropped 40 on 5-for-5 3pt shooting to end the losing streak too, while the only loss in the last seven games for Boston was an overtime loss against the Warriors, where Jayson Tatum only scored 15 on a bad shooting day.

Let’s talk about game and player props we can pull from this game, while knowing I believe the Celtics will cover the narrow 2.5-point spread.

We won’t have to go too deep into the season’s stats for both teams to try and justify a tally of 235 points or more in this game. The contest will feature dynamic scorers LeBron James and Anthony Davis averaging 50.1 PPG together, including 55.9 PPG combined in their last 10 games.

Boston’s trio of top scorers, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis, average 68.9 PPG together, including 69.4 in their last 10, where they’ve won 8. Porzingis is expected to play on Christmas.

If we’re sticking with the last 10, the Celtics have averaged 126.2 PPG, and the Lakers 116.5. That combination will get you well over the threshold, especially if a motivated LeBron, who averages 27.1 points, 7.6 boards and 7 assists per game on Christmas Day, continues his amazing season to defy Father Time.

Now, let’s get into LeBron’s player props.

I’m banking on yet another big game for LeBron after his last 40-point effort to end the Lakers’ losing streak. He may be doubled plenty by the lengthy Celtics frontcourt, but that’s why I like adding assists on here for a possible fail-safe.

In the last five games, even with four games ending in losses, LeBron is averaging 29.2 PPG and 10 APG. A 30 point, six-assist outing covers this bet. You can also parlay it with the over bet above in a Same Game Parlay for a +202 parlay on DraftKings.

Jayson Tatum has improved just about each season he’s been in the league, including netting over three 3PTs per game over the last three season. And while recently he’s been up and down with his three-pointer percentage, he’s still nearing three 3-pointers made each game.

I feel this will be a game where he shoots more than 20 times in a big Christmas Day battle, and 10 of those could easily be from the arc. In the blowout win over the Clippers, where he only played 30 minutes, 10 of his 16 shots were from three, with five made.

I feel a lot of volume from what should be a relatively close game, so expect him to play 38+ and get those attempts enough to land four from deep.

If you’re looking for a combo stat prop for him, you can get over 41.5 points + assists + rebounds for -108 at Caesars, which is near his season average combined for all three stats.

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