The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics will settle their basketball gambling differences starting tonight in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, in which Boston has home advantage but the Cavs are the favorites.
Time: 8:35 PM
Venue: TD Garden
Sportsbook Basketball Gambling NBA odds:
Cavaliers -4 (-110) 219½ (-110) -185
Celtics +4 (-110) 219½ (-110) +160
Cleveland
Recent form: The Cavs are 8-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the first team to ever post that record the season following a championship win as well as in back-to-back postseasons. Cleveland has been on holiday since eliminating the Raptors on May 7th to reach their seventh consecutive conference finals, leading to concerns that so much rest could possibly turn in to rust. The Cavaliers have swept the opposition on all nine occasions in which they were ahead 3-0. Cleveland has defeated the Celtics in nine of their past 11 meetings.
Key players: LeBron James had 35 points which seems to be his lucky number as of late. The Big LeBronowsky scored five-and-30 in three of the four games against the Raps. Even Toronto coach Dwane Casey had to give props to the King’s mad sniping skillz. “When LeBron is shooting the 3 ball the way he is, it’s going to take a Herculean effort to beat them,” Casey said. Actually, that was one of Hercules’s Twelve Labours, wasn’t it?
NBA online betting trends: The Cavs are 4-0-2 against the spread in the last six games and 2-3-1 ATS in the last six against Boston. Not quite reassuring, though they have covered in 80% of their last five visits to Boston. The basketball gambling total has gone over in six of Cleveland’s last eight contests, over in two thirds of the Cavs’ last six road games, and over in 10 of their last 14 versus the Celtics.
Boston
Recent form: The Celtics went all the way to game 7 but finally managed to dispatch the Wizards on Monday. Boston’s bench outscored Washington’s reserves 48-5, and the Celts hit 11 three-point shots – eight in the second half. Even though they were outrebounded 31-43, the Celtics outscored the Wizards 58-40 in the paint. Boston has won its last five straight home games, but the Celtics have lost 80% of their last five times hosting the Cavs.
Key players: Isaiah Thomas had a characteristic 29 points and 12 rebounds, but it was the bench, particularly Kelly Olynyk, that tipped the scales. Olynyk posted a career-postseason best 26 points to go with five rebounds and four assists.
NBA online betting trends: The Celts have been as good at covering as they have been at winning at home; they are 5-0 against the spread in their last five at TD Garden, but 1-4 ATS they last five times the Cavaliers have dropped in. The basketball gambling total has gone over in five of Boston’s last seven games overall, over in six of their last seven at home, and under in 100% of their last five playing at home against the Cavs.