For once the NBA Finals are shaping up to be an interesting online wagering event. Far too often over the past decade the NBA Finals have been a snooze-fest as one team seems to thoroughly dominate the other and the basketball betting action is of a very low quality. The winner is already pre-determined and the underdog in the sports betting odds seems to win one, maybe two games at best in most NBA Finals odds matchups.
But this year, at least through three games in the NBA Finals betting matchup, online wagering fans have gotten their money’s worth. The Lakers took Game 1 at home in a convincing manner. The Celtics took Game 2 on the road in what turned out to be relatively easy fashion and the Lakers responded by winning one on the road in the Game 3.
This back and forth has made wagering online in this basketball betting series quite interesting to say the least. However, if one takes a closer look this NBA online wagering matchup may not be what exactly what it seems.
Fans of wagering online and sports fans in general want to see a tightly fought and exciting NBA Finals betting matchup, of that there is little question. And so do the NBA executives. But at what cost are we willing to accept a six or seven NBA Finals series.
If you look at the games so far in this NBA Finals betting series and examine the stats sheets there are a lot of things that don’t add up. For example, the Celtics won Game 2 while only getting a combined 16 points from stars Paul Peirce and Kevin Garnett even though the Lakers go 20+ from Kobe Bryant, Pao Gasol and Andrew Bynum each. That would seem strange until you factor in Bryant’s limited time on the court because of foul trouble. And in the Lakers’ Game 3 victory only one of the Lakers starters had more than 2 fouls why three of the Celtics stars had 4+ fouls.
Those are just two small examples of some statistical inconsistencies that don’t seem to quite add up. And with howls of corrupt officiating growing louder in the online wagering world, and not just from fringe sports betting bloggers, but from NBA coaches themselves, it gets harder and harder to ignore the claims that perhaps the NBA is trying to influence the outcome of the NBA Finals betting action through unscrupulous officiating, trying to extend the series as long as possible to maximize advertising revenue.
It’s nothing more than conjecture at this point but if Boston wins by a comfortable margin in Game 4 and the Lakers key players just happen to be in foul trouble, that result would seem like more than just a coincidental occurrence.