The Los Angeles Lakers are favored in NBA betting in the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. Game 1 of the Finals is on Thursday night and the Lakers are 5.5 point favorites in NBA Playoffs betting. The NBA Finals will be televised on ABC and the Lakers will have the home court advantage in the seven-game series.
NBA betting odds list the Lakers as -190 favorites to win the overall series. Los Angeles will have home court advantage in this series and that may be all the advantage they need. They also have the best player in the league in Kobe Bryant and he is another reason they are favored. Kobe proved in the series against Phoenix that he is still the premier player in the league. Many people will mention LeBron James as the best player in the league but he has done nothing in the playoffs while Kobe has won four championships.
The Lakers are the defending NBA champions but they still feel they have something to prove since they lost two years ago in the finals to the Celtics. Kobe’s Lakers have beaten a lot of teams in the finals but they still haven’t beaten Boston. Now Kobe and the Lakers will get a chance at revenge when this NBA Playoffs betting series begins in Los Angeles on Thursday.
The NBA Finals will be extremely popular since these two franchises at the best in NBA history. The Celtics have won 17 championships while the Lakers have won 15. Two years ago the Celtics had the home court edge but this time it is Los Angeles who has the edge. The Lakers may also have the edge in other areas as well. Kobe is the best player in the game and the Lakers have a tougher team than they had two years ago. Andrew Bynum didn’t play at all two years ago and Ron Artest was not with the Lakers. They should provide the physical presence that Los Angeles needs.
This will be the 12th time in NBA history that the Celtics and Lakers have met in the NBA Finals. The Celtics won the first eight of those meetings, the Lakers won the next two and the Celtics won two years ago.