NBA Betting Tips: Semi-final places at stake

We've reached the quarter-final stage of the NBA In-Season Tournament, with two games taking place tonight. We've picked out our best bets for the upcoming matches.

Celtics @ Pacers - Celtics (-4.5) @ 10/11

The Pacers and Celtics have met once this season, and it wasn't close.

On November 1, Boston got 30 points from Jayson Tatum in just 27 minutes in a 155-104 home romp, when Indiana were missing star Tyrese Haliburton.

The Celtics enter the game in better form, and have risen to the top of the East regular-season standings with a 15-4 record.

Indiana have had some joy on the offensive end, and they currently lead the NBA in scoring at 128.8 points per game, having topped 120 points in all but four of its 18 contests.

The Celtics rank fourth in the NBA for defense, and Indiana could be without Haliburton once again here, so I'm backing Boston to cover.

Pelicans @ Kings - Kings (-4.5) @ 10/11

The Pelicans have had a rough time on the road lately losing three games in a row, so not having the In-Season Tournament quarter finals in their own arena could be problematic.

They’ll be basing their optimism on the fact that they’ve already defeated the Kings twice this season, however, both of those games were at the Smoothie King Center - in their last seven road games the Pels have recorded just one win.

Meanwhile, it's been a solid start to the season for the Kings, especially at home where Sacramento have lost only twice in eight outings. In the last six meetings against the Pelicans at home, they have covered the spread four times.

I think home court advantage could be the difference here, so I'm taking the Kings to cover.

Check out the rest of our NBA Betting Tips here.