NBA Betting Tips: Celtics feature in our Friday picks

The inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament continues on Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday morning, as teams battle it out to qualify for the next round. We've picked out our best bets for the upcoming matches.

The new format sees teams face off in a group stage, with the results counting towards regular season records as well, before the winners from each of the six sections, alongside two wildcards, progress to the knockouts to compete for the NBA Cup and a $500,000 bonus for each player in the winning roster.

Boston Celtics @ Orlando Magic - Celtics (-6.5) @ 11/10

The Celtics are seeking an eighth win in nine games here, bouncing back from their defeat against Charlotte with an impressive triumph over Milwaukee last time out.

The Magic will pose a difficult test, however, as they've won their past five outings, winning the second game of a back-to-back against Denver and improving to a 10-5 record for the season.

While they had the offensive muscle to power past the Nuggets, Orlando are facing a completely different test in the Celtics, who are fully healthy coming into this clash.

I think Kristaps Porzingis creates matchups that the Celtics can exploit, so I'm taking them to cover here.

Miami Heat @ New York Knicks - Knicks (-4.5) @ 4/5

A classic Eastern Conference rivalry is renewed here as the New York Knicks welcome the Miami Heat to Madison Square Garden.

The Heat continued their November surge on Wednesday by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers, 129-96. The Knicks have been off since Monday, when they ended a five-game road trip with a 117-100 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves that snapped a three-game winning streak.

Injuries will have the deciding say in this game, in my opinion. Miami will be without Tyler Herro, who is their leading scorer, while leading rebounder Bam Adebayo is also questionable.

The Knicks can take advantage of those absences, and their trio of scorers in Jalen Brunson, RJ Barrett and Julius Randle will be too much of the Heat defense to contain.

Washington Wizards @ Milwaukee Bucks - Bucks (-12.5) @ 4/5

These two teams locked horns on Monday night, and they'll do so again but this time in Wisconsin.

The Wizards are spiraling only 14 games into the season, and they bring a seven-game losing streak into this matchup. The offense is 22nd in offensive rating, while they have the worst rebounding percentage in the entire league - not exactly a recipe for success.

The Bucks lost against Boston last time out, but I wouldn't read too much into that as Milwaukee are flat-out better in every way here. Points differential matters in the In-Season Tournament, so I'm expecting the Bucks to rack up the score in this one.

Check out the rest of our NBA Betting Tips here.