The 13-13 Boston Celtics will travel for a Christmas Day NBA pro basketball game against the 14-12 Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday afternoon. Tip off time from Brooklyn is scheduled for 12PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by ESPN.

The betting odds from this NBA game should be released by late afternoon on Christmas Eve. According to the Sagarin Ratings the Brooklyn Nets are a -4 point favorite in this game.

This will already be the third meeting between these two Eastern Conference clubs. Brooklyn both games one home one away and covered the spread on the road. Their home game pushed the spread.

The Celtics have been struggling as they enter play on Christmas Day losers of four of their past five games. They come off the 99-94 home defeat in overtime on Friday to the Milwaukee Bucks as a -5 ½ point betting favorite. The game went over 190 ½ points. The Celtics blow an eight point lead entering the fourth quarter. Boston is having trouble scoring as they have given up high point totals during this negative stretch of games. In the four losses they can’t get to 90 points in regulation time. The Celtics has given up 100 or more points in four of their past six games. Their also losing the rebounding battle on most nights and have a 4-8 record on the road. They are looking for scoring from Jason Terry but he is only contributing 11 points a game in 30 minutes a night.

The Nets broke through with a much needed win on Sunday as they beat the 76ers 95-92 at home on Sunday as a -6 point favorite. This is another tame struggling for points as they eclipse 100 points just once in their past eight games. With an average of 95 points a game the Nets rank 21st in the league. Brooklyn’s big three in Brook Lopez, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams produce offense but they badly need more production from their bench players. Only five Nets score in double digits this season. Williams is in a shooting slump making just 39% from the floor and 29% from the three point line.