Boston Celtics at Golden State Warriors (-12, 222)

The Golden State Warriors are five wins clear of the NBA's single-season victory mark and look to capture their 69th win after they host the Boston Celtics on Friday. Golden State, which has won six straight games, must go 5-2 over the general seven games to surpass the 72-victory record set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

The Warriors have won 13 in their last 14 games and set a franchise record Wednesday with their 68th victory by outlasting Utah 103-96 in overtime. "(The record) is something we wish to do; we've spoken on this," forward Draymond Green told reporters. "IT'S no secret. It is going to be a fab thing to do, but we need to worry about convalescing every night. I FEEL if we worry about that, the wins will handle themselves." Boston suffered a 116-109 road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday to fall into sixth place within the Eastern Conference however the Celtics are only 1 1/2 games behind the third-place Atlanta Hawks. Boston All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas scored 20 or more points in all 14 games in March and averaged 25.9 points for the month.

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, CSN New England (Boston), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)

LINE HISTORY: The soldiers opened as 12-point home favorites over the Celtics, where they're 36-0 SU (19-17 ATS). The overall opened at 223 and was immediately bet down some degree and a half to 215.5. It has since been bet back as much as 222. Take a look at all the line history here.

INJURY REPORT:

Celtics - No injuries to report.

Warriors - SF K. Looney (out Friday, hip), C F. Ezeli (out Friday, knee), SF A. Iguodala (out Friday, ankle).COVERS POWER RANKINGS: Celtics (-6.1) - Warriors (-15) + home court (-3) = Warriors -12

MATCHUP CHART:

WHAT SHARPS SAY: "THE SOLDIERS stay No. 2 within the West ATS (41-32-3), but have now did not cover five in their last seven games. Four of these ATS defeats came as double digit favorites." - Covers Expert Power Sports.

ABOUT THE CELTICS (43-32, 39-35-1 ATS, 36-39 O/U): Small forward Jae Crowder returned from an eight-game absence on account of an ankle injury and had 13 points and 10 rebounds within the loss to Portland. Boston coach Brad Stevens said that Crowder wouldn't be on a minutes' restriction but there's a chance he may well be held out against the soldiers if the educational staff decides it's an excessive amount of of a risk for him to instantly play both ends of a back-to-back. "I'm hopeful that, knock on wood, we will get healthy and be healthy the remainder of the way in which through and build off of a few of the good stuff that we've done," Stevens told reporters. "And hopefully come back to playing just a little like we were playing, really, before the All-Star break."

ABOUT THE SOLDIERS (68-7, 41-32-2 ATS, 41-33-1 O/U): Golden State looks to extends its NBA-record home winning streak to 55 games and the competition with the Celtics is the opener of a four-game homestand that comes with games against the path Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs. The soldiers even have a road game at San Antonio for his or her next-to-last game of the season but coach Steve Kerr sees every game as being important at this point. "We always compete; that's the wonderful thing about this team," Kerr said after his team rallied to force overtime en path to the win over the Jazz. "FOR THIS REASON we've this record and our guys compete every night. I LIKE our competitive spirit. It doesn't matter what our record ends up, it almost doesn't matter. It is only an implausible display of competition and fight night after night."

TWEET BEAT:

TRENDS:

* Celtics are 1-7 ATS of their last eight road games.* Warriors are 1-4 ATS of their last five versus Eastern Conference opponents.* Over is 4-1 in Celtics last five games playing on zero days rest.* Under is 6-1 in Warriors last seven games overall.

COVERS CONSENSUS: Bettors are giving the Celtics a slight edge with the a host apparently many feel is simply too high. Fifty-four percent of wagers are on Boston, while 69 percent are at the over.

Read More... [Source: Covers.com: NBA News and Stories]