Battle of the NBA's best - by far - road 1st half team from a year ago, vs its worst 1st half home ream. BOS +6.7, 1.2 better than anyone else, and came out firing Tues. WSH -5.0 1st half at home last year, 28th in NBA. WSH was 30th in 1st half D rating at home and last in defensive reb % and 29th in opponent point in paint in 1st half at home. Boston won the first half in 2 games in WSH last year by 27 points and led by 10+ in 3 of 4 meetings. Many teams have been rusty early in their openers but Boston is already cooking. Celtics averaged NBA best 62.5 PPG in first half on road.

The books had trouble finding the right totals for both of these teams early last season and that may be the case again. The Wiz went over in 7 of their first 8 games, by an average or 11.9 points, covering by 9.5 or more in 5 of those games. The Celtics went over in 5 of their first 6. All four meetings between these teams went over last year, and those games averaged 245.5 points. The Wiz are defensively deficient and have been for years - especially against the perimeter. The Celtics could put up 130 themselves no problem. Boston's second team gave Wiz fits last year and even in a blowout the points will probably keep coming.