The best second round NBA playoffs series in basketball betting could be the one between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. It is two teams that don’t like each other. The Cavaliers are the overall favorite in NBA betting in the series but Boston is capable of pulling off the upset.
Basketball betting trends don’t really favor either team in this series but they do point to a competitive series. Before this series began the teams had split their last ten meetings. What is definitely clear is that the teams have a definite dislike for one another. “We don’t like them. And they don’t like us,” Cleveland’s LeBron James said. The bad blood comes from the 2008 semifinals when Boston outlasted Cleveland in a brutal seven-game series. “It comes from them wanting to be really great, them winning a championship, us wanting to win a championship. It comes from us knowing that we have to go through them and them knowing that they have to go through us.” James added.
The Cavaliers are still trying to get over the hump and win an NBA title but to do so they are going to have to get past Boston in this series and probably Orlando in the next series. The Celtics are probably playing as well as they have all season so the Cavaliers won’t have an easy team getting past Boston in NBA betting. “It’s a huge mountain we’re going to have to climb,’’ Paul Pierce said. “But I think this team is ready to face the test. We are playing as good basketball as we have been playing all season long, and we are ready. They are the team to beat right now; they showed it throughout the course of the season. The way they are playing right now, we have our work cut out for us. If we are going to win the series we have to get some games in Cleveland, possibly more than one, and definitely have to defend our home court.’’
In the regular season the teams played four times with each winning two. The Celtics upset Cleveland on opening night in basketball betting. The Cavaliers beat the Celtics twice about four months later while the Celtics took the regular season finale. “If you want to win it you got to play them all anyway at some point,’’ Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “So, you know, why not now? We’re there, we’ll be waiting; we’ll be ready. And I’m sure they will be.’’