Raptors, Nuggets small favorites on Tuesday NBA odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

One small benefit of the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the NBA for around four months? Playoff basketball in September for the first time. Tuesday is the first day of September and there are two postseason games on the schedule from the ESPN World Wide of Sports Complex in the Orlando bubble.

The first game at 5:30 p.m. ET is the Eastern Conference third-seeded Boston Celtics as 1.5-point underdogs against the No. 2 Toronto Raptors in Game 2 of their conference semifinal series. Interesting line considering Boston largely dominated Game 1 in a 112-94 victory Sunday to improve to 4-1 against the Raptors this season.

Boston’s Jayson Tatum had 21 points and nine rebounds and Kemba Walker 18 points and 10 assists, but those two stars are expected to play well. The Celtics also got surprising contributions from Daniel Theis (13 points, 15 rebounds), Marcus Smart (21 points, six rebounds) and Robert Williams III (10 points, five rebounds in only 19 minutes off the bench).