Celtics vs. Nets NBA injury report, odds, spread: Kevin Durant still out, Marcus Smart back, Blake Griffin will not make Brooklyn debut Thursday

The Boston Celtics were interested in trading for James Harden back in January but lost out on the bidding for Harden to the Brooklyn Nets. On Thursday, the Celtics get their first look at the Nets with Harden but not with Blake Griffin as the former six-time All-Star Griffin won't make his Brooklyn debut. Kevin Durant remains out for the Nets. Boston will welcome back starting guard Marcus Smart but is a 2.5-point road underdog on the William Hill Sportsbook NBA odds. Check out the SportsLine Projection Model forecast of this game. 

The Nets are still being vague on when Durant might return from his hamstring injury, although there's certainly no reason to push KD and he clearly will not be back in the immediate future. Durant is scheduled to have more imaging done on the injury next week and then there may be a timeline.

As for Griffin, he was bought out by the Pistons and cleared waivers over the weekend. Coach Steve Nash reportedly plans to bring Griffin off the bench as a proverbial Sixth Man. Griffin, who will wear No. 2, said he signed with the Nets because he wants to win a championship and "they have a need for a four-man."

While Griffin is fine in terms of COVID protocols, etc., the team wants him to get a bit more conditioning before playing in a game, something he hasn't done since Feb. 12 with Detroit, so he won't play here. As we wrote earlier this week, William Hill did not change any Nets futures odds with the addition of Griffin, and the SportsLine Projection Model actually forecasted slight regression.

Brooklyn also could be missing forwards Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (doubtful) and Jeff Green (questionable) on Thursday. The Nets could take over the Eastern Conference lead with a victory over Boston and a Philadelphia loss in Chicago – which is very possible if not likely as the underdog Sixers will be without All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

Boston entered the break on a four-game winning streak but those were all at home – the Celtics are 7-12 straight up and 6-13 against the spread on the road. The return of Smart will certainly help matters as he's averaging 13.1 points and 6.1 assists this season, is a stellar perimeter defender and the team's emotional leader. Boston went 9-9 in the 18 games Smart missed with a serious calf injury. Coach Brad Stevens said that Smart would be on a strict minutes limit initially.

The Nets are 1-0 vs. the Celtics this season, winning 123-95 in Boston on Christmas. Kyrie Irving scored 37 points with eight assists in his first game back in Beantown since he opted out of his Celtics contract in 2019. Durant had 29 points in that one and Harden was still in Houston. Smart had 13 points and six assists for the Celtics.

Boston is 2-6 ATS in its past eight overall against Brooklyn.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times, and it returned over $5,000 in profit on its top-rated NBA picks last season. The model is also up almost $8,500 on top-rated NBA picks over the past two-plus seasons. Dating back to last season, it enters Week 12 of the 2020-21 NBA schedule on a stunning 87-52 roll on top-rated NBA picks against the spread. Anybody who has followed it has seen HUGE returns.