Boston at Sacramento

Boston is 1-2 on this road trip, a terrific Xmas Day win at Brooklyn followed by two straight losses out West. However, those two losses were at the Clippers and the Warriors. They now step down in class against the dysfunctional and stumbling Kings, a team that has lost seven of ten. After losing to the hot-shooting Warriors, Boston faces a Sacramento offense that ranks 23rd in shooting and a Kings defense that allows .456% shooting (22nd). The Celtics were thrown off their game in Golden State as Rajon Rondo was a late scratch and they had no offensive flow. There actually is plenty of guard talent and bench strength on this team, so a day to adjust will help Courtney Lee, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and Jeff Green.  And Kevin Garnett tallied just six points in 24 minutes -- he's rested and will bounce back against this weak Kings defense. The Celtics are 28-10 ATS in their last 38 Sunday games while the Kings are 0-4 ATS against a team with a losing record. In addition, look for a defensive first half. The Celtics are playing in the second of a back to back spot and Doc Rivers was upset with their defensive intensity last night. Paul Pierce said he would hold off on calling a players-only meeting or sending a stronger message to his teammates. "We’ve got to see how we end up on this trip and go from there," he said. "We just got through playing well on Christmas and we take a step back, and we’ll see how the rest of this trip goes." Whenever KG, Pierce and Doc Rivers have their backs to the wall, they fall back on their tough defense. And there's no sense going uptempo early after playing last night, plus Rondo's injury. Play the Celtics. and the First Half UNDER here.