NBA Finals betting action wraps up on Thursday night from Tinseltown, as the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers meet for the final time to decide who will be the champions of the NBA.
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This series has been tight every step of the way, as neither team ever took more than a one game edge in the proceedings. Los Angeles, facing its first deficit of the series, came out with guns blazing and scored an 89-67 victory in Game 6 to force the do or die, winner take all seventh game.

Boston Celtics (65-40, 48-55-2 ATS) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (72-32, 45-56-3 ATS)
Game Date/Time: Thursday, June 17th, 9:00 ET
Game Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
TV/Radio Broadcast: ABC, TSN, Sirius

NBA Finals Odds: Boston Celtics +7 vs. Los Angeles Lakers -7: Game Total 186

C Kendrick Perkins was knocked out of Game 6 with a knee injury, and he is going to be out of the lineup for Game 7. There is still a question about who will step into the starting lineup, but regardless of who it is, he will have to play better than he did in Game 6. The bench for the Celtics was absolutely embarrassing on Tuesday night, as the unit shot just 15.3 percent from the field collectively and scored just 13 points. The other stars for HC Doc Rivers shined as G Ray Allen, G Rajon Rondo, F Paul Pierce, and F Kevin Garnett all scored in double figures.

For Los Angeles, it was clearly the defense which did the trick. Offensively, G Kobe Bryant put up a not-so-spectacular 26 points on 9/19 shooting. The team only shot 41.8 percent from the field. The difference, once again, was on the glass. The Lakers pulled down a whopping 52 rebounds against just 39 for the Celtics. Three players, including Bryant, F Pau Gasol, and F Lamar Odom, each reached double digits in boards. Gasol had a particularly strong game, as he had 17 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists to go with three blocked shots. F Ron Artest was a star as well. After having a rough series that had only seen him averaging 7.8 points per game, Artest exploded for 15 points, including three triples. C Andrew Bynum, who had just had his knee drained once again before Game 6, only scored two points in the victory.

NBA Finals Insider Tip: The Celtics have covered five straight spreads following a game in which they were defeated by double digits.

It’s hard to imagine the Lakers losing a Game 7 at home, but it was equally hard to envision the Celtics losing a seventh game at home to the Orlando Magic last year in the Eastern Conference semifinals. It was also just as hard to fathom the C’s knocking off the Cavs and the Magic as well in these playoffs.

We’ve ridden the Celtics for the mass majority of this series, and we are going to finish it that way as well. Back Boston plus the points in Thursday night NBA Finals betting action!

My NBA Playoff Prediction: Boston by 3
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BetUS Sportsbook is back with our NBA Finals betting picks for the sixth, and what could be the final game of the NBA season, as the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers duke it out in Tinseltown in Game 6. The Celtics have turned a pair of one game deficits into a 3-2 series lead by winning both Games 4 and 5 at TD Banknorth Garden, and now, they are just one victory away from becoming champions of the world for the second time in three seasons.
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Boston Celtics (65-39, 48-54-2 ATS) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (71-32, 44-56-3 ATS)
Game Date/Time: Tuesday, June 15th, 9:00 ET
Game Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
TV/Radio Broadcast: ABC, TSN, Sirius

NBA Finals Betting Odds: Boston Celtics +6.5 vs. Los Angeles Lakers -6.5: Game Total 187.5

It’s not often that a team can hold Los Angeles under 95 points in four straight games, but that’s exactly what the C’s have done and why they are on the verge of winning the title this year. In Game 5, HC Doc Rivers went under the mentality that G Kobe Bryant was going to get his points and make his shots, but that the rest of the team was going to be held under wraps. Mission accomplished! If you discount the 13/27 and 38 points that Kobe put up in Game 5, the rest of the team combined shot just 35.3 percent from the field and scored just 48 total points. The only man to reach double digits in scoring in purple and gold aside from Bryant was F Pau Gasol, who had a dozen points and a dozen boards.

For Boston, F Paul Pierce played his most important game of the season, shooting 12/21 from the field and scoring a team high 27 points. F Kevin Garnett had 18 points and ten rebounds in one of his best efforts in the series. G Rajon Rondo is back on the horse after a bad Game 4, as he scored 18 points on 9/12 from the floor with eight assists and five rebounds.

NBA Finals Insider Tip: The Celtics are 12-4-1 ATS in their L/17 NBA betting battles against the Lakers.

All season long, the Celtics have been told what they can’t do. They couldn’t figure out how to win games at home. They couldn’t overcome being the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference. They couldn’t stop LeBron James and the Cavs. They couldn’t figure out how to cope with the Orlando Magic. There was no way that they were going to be able to finish off the Magic in Game 6 after losing Games 4 and 5. They weren’t going to stop Kobe and the Lakers in the Finals. Now, Boston is staring two major trends in the face. No team has ever beaten a HC Phil Jackson coached squad after falling behind 1-0 in a series, and no team has ever won an NBA Finals in the 2-3-2 format after losing Game 3 to fall behind 2-1 in the series. That all ends tonight! The Celtics are our NBA Finals pick to win it all on Tuesday.

My NBA Playoff Prediction: Boston by 8
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For the fifth time this month, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics will take to the hardwood in NBA Finals betting action. For the second time in this series, the two teams are on terms. The C’s knotted this series at two games apiece on Thursday night when the bench proved to be the difference in a 96-89 win at TD Banknorth Garden.
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Boston Celtics (64-39, 47-54-2 ATS) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (71-31, 44-55-3 ATS)
Game Date/Time: Sunday, June 14th, 8:00 ET
Game Location: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA
TV/Radio Broadcast: ABC, TSN, Sirius

NBA Finals Odds: Los Angeles Lakers +3 vs. Boston Celtics -3: Game Total 187.5

The biggest question for HC Phil Jackson and his crew is whether or not the team is really going to able to step up and put its foot on Boston’s throat in this series or not. G Kobe Bryant has certainly played this series as if he was the centerpiece and the only way that the Lakers will be able to win a game. He took 22 shots in Game 4′s defeat, and only connected on ten of them. Hitting six three pointers helped matters out quite a bit, as Bryant led the team with 33 points. Aside from Bryant though, the only man in purple and gold that scored more than ten points was F Pau Gasol. The Spaniard scored 21 points on 6/13 shooting, but his effort on the glass wasn’t fantastic, as he had just six boards. Los Angeles shot 45.1 percent from the field and just 7/20 from beyond the arc. However, the rest of the team outside of Bryant only hit one triple, and if you take out Gasol and Bryant, everyone else in purple and gold only went 2/4 from the charity stripe.

Once again, the winner of this game ultimately ended up being the team that won the rebounding battle. Boston had 16 offensive rebounds and won the battle 41-34 overall. Four of those offensive boards came from F Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who had the game of his career off of the bench. Davis scored 18 points in just 23 minutes of work, the second highest total of the team. F Paul Pierce shot 7/12 from the floor and scored 19 to lead all scorers in green. There were six Celtics that ended up scoring in double digits, including G Ray Allen, G Rajon Rondo, F Kevin Garnett, and G Nate Robinson. The Celtics scored a whopping 54 points in the paint in the victory, which was 20 more than the Lakers managed. The C’s also won the fast break battle 15-2 and consistently kept the Lakers off guard.

NBA Finals Insider Tip: The Celtics are 5-0 ATS in their L/5 clashes when playing on two days of rest.

With Lakers C Andrew Bynum’s knee once again giving him problems, I really feel the Celtics now hold the overall advantage in the paint. That’s huge considering the team that’s won the rebounding battle is now a perfect 4-0 ATS in this series. Doc Rivers has also done a masterful job with his substitutions, and I think he’s done a better job coaching his club than Phil Jackson’s done looking upon his. If the Celtics lose this game, the NBA Finals will almost certainly be lost. Again, I feel as though the Lakers have to feel somewhat accomplished by their games in Beantown. If Kobe goes off for 40+ and the Lakers beat me, so be it! That said; I don’t see it happening.

Back the C’s in NBA betting Game 5 action on Sunday night!
My NBA Playoff Prediction: Boston by 6
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BetUS Sportsbook is back with another round of NBA Finals picks for Thursday night, as the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers duke it out for the fourth time in this best of seven series. The Lakers have to feel like an accomplished team after Tuesday night’s 91-84 victory, as they took a 2-1 series lead and guaranteed that, regardless of whether Boston wins both Games 4 and 5 or not, that the NBA championship will either be handed to them in Beantown, or the series will be going back to Tinseltown for at least a Game 6.
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Boston Celtics (63-39, 46-54-2 ATS) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (71-30, 44-54-3 ATS)
•Game Date/Time: Thursday, June 10th, 9:00 ET
•Game Location: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA
•TV/Radio Broadcast: ABC, TSN, Sirius

NBA Finals Odds: Los Angeles Lakers +3.5 vs. Boston Celtics -3.5 – Game Total 190.5

HC Phil Jackson will tell you that his team still has a lot of work to do offensively if it hopes to win the NBA title. Shooting 44.7 percent from the field probably won’t cut it, but it’s hard to argue with the fact that G Kobe Bryant shot 10/29 from the floor. No, that’s not a fantastic percentage, but generally speaking, the more that Kobe shoots, the better off the Lakers are. Bryant scored 29 points, coming up just one shy of his sixth 30+ point performance in his L/7 games overall in Tuesday’s ‘W’. G Derek Fisher battled foul trouble all night, but his 6/12 shooting from the floor and 16 total points were a huge boost for a team that struggled at times offensively when its star wasn’t connecting from the field.

Game 3 may as well have been called “Disaster Piece Theatre” for G Ray Allen. The Connecticut Huskies standout only scored two points and failed to hit a shot from the floor. His 0/13 effort, eight of which came from downtown, really crushed the offensive flow of the game for the C’s all night long. F Paul Piece only scored 15 points, while G Rajon Rondo was held to 11. The star was F Kevin Garnett, who erased the memories of two awful games by shooting 11/16 from the field and scoring 25 points.

The team winning the rebounding battle is now 3-0 both SU and ATS in this series, as LA held that advantage 43-35 in Game 3.

NBA Finals Insider Tip: The Celtics are 7-3 ATS in their L/10 home games and are 10-4-1 ATS in their L/15 clashes with the Lakers overall.

Here’s some food for thought: Had Allen not gone 0/13 from the floor in Game 3, the Celtics would’ve shot 53.3 percent from the field. Odds have it, that won’t be the case again in Game 4, but odds have it, Allen will end up playing a game that is somewhere between the ridiculous Game 2 outing that he had in LA and the dismal one that he had in Game 3.

Also, the referees pretty much made it impossible for the Celtics to get into a rhythm after blowing the whistles on them what seemed to be almost every Lakers possession. With a new crop of zebras in the “Garden” for Game 4, I got a feeling some major make-up calls are certainly in the cards.

The Celtics are going to be desperate and fighting for their lives. Back the hosts for your NBA Finals picks as they tie this series up to set up a crucial Game 5.

My NBA Playoff Prediction: Boston by 8
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BetUS Sportsbook begins wrapping up the basketball season with NBA Finals betting action beginning on Thursday night in Tinseltown. The Lakers reached this point in the season by dismissing the Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz, and Phoenix Suns from the Western Conference playoffs.
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Boston took care of the Miami Heat with no difficulties and ultimately also disposed of two of the three top favorites to win it all from when the postseason started in the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic.

Boston Celtics (62-37, 45-52-2 ATS) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (69-29, 42-53-3 ATS) – Game Date/Time: Thursday, June 3rd, 9:00 ET – Game Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA – TV/Radio Broadcast: ABC, TSN, Sirius

NBA Finals Odds: Boston Celtics +5.5 vs. Los Angeles Lakers -5.5: Game Total 191.5

In order for the Celtics to bring back the memories of an NBA Finals victory over LA from two years ago, their “Big Four” are going to have to play like four superstars. This feels like a team that needs to get more production, particularly out of F Paul Pierce offensively. Pierce did score 30+ points in two of the final three games of the Eastern Conference Finals, but 19.1 points per game just doesn’t feel like it is cutting it, particularly if F Kevin Garnett is only going to average 14.9 points per game like he has in the playoffs to date.

Role players are going to be critical for Boston. C Kendrick Perkins is only averaging 5.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in the first three rounds of these playoffs, and he is just one technical foul away from being suspended for a game in the Finals.

It’s going to take the efforts of some secondary players for the Lakers to be called champs as well. C Andrew Bynum recently had his knee drained of fluid in attempt to try to put him in a better condition to play in the NBA Finals than he was in the Western Conference Finals when he scored just 7.2 points per game.

However, as long as G Kobe Bryant is doing his thing, the purple and gold are going to be tough to beat. It was clearly “Kobe Time” against the Suns, as the star of the Lakers for the last decade was up to his old tricks again, scoring 30+ points in five of the six games and nearly recording three triple-doubles.

NBA Finals Insider Tip: The Celtics are 9-2-1 ATS in their L/12 NBA betting clashes with the Lakers.

Boston has been the team that has just refused to accept the logic of, “You can’t do that” all postseason long. This may be a completely different type of task trying to shut down Kobe and the gang, but we expect this to be a very, very close series.

This is a winnable game for the Celtics. However, we think that they’ll fall just short. Boston and the points are still the way to go in NBA Finals betting action in Game 1.

My NBA Playoff Prediction: Los Angeles by 3
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In a series that had featured four blowouts, the Western Conference Finals certainly took a turn for the dramatic on Thursday night when F Ron Artest picked up an errant G Kobe Bryant shot and flushed it home at the buzzer to give the Los Angeles Lakers a 103-101 victory and a 3-2 series lead in the Western Conference Finals over the Phoenix Suns.

BetUS Sportsbook takes its shot at NBA playoff picks for the sixth game in this series, one that the Suns must win if they hope to keep their season alive.
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#1 Los Angeles Lakers (68-29, 41-53-3 ATS) vs. #3 Phoenix Suns (64-33, 59-37-1 ATS) •Game Date/Time: Saturday, May 29th, 9:00 ET •Game Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ •TV/Radio Broadcast: TNT, Sirius

NBA Playoff Odds: Los Angeles Lakers +1.5 vs. Phoenix Suns -1.5: Game Total 216

Bryant may not have hit the game-winning shot, but he certainly has been the MVP of this series for HC Phil Jackson’s team. Bryant has now posted three straight games that came up just short of triple-doubles. He is averaging 33.0 points, 9.6 assists, and 7.4 rebounds per game in this series and is the man that seemingly always hits the big shot with hands in his face.

G Derek Fisher stepped up and gave him a ton of help in Game 5. The wily veteran scored 22 points and hit dagger after dagger that kept the Suns from going on that one huge run that could’ve taken away LA’s lead in a heartbeat.

For Phoenix, had the bench not had such a woeful first half, it probably would be up 3-2 in this series instead of down 3-2. Even though the relief men for HC Alvin Gentry ultimately scored 31 points, they only came up with one bucket in the first half.

C Channing Frye and F Jared Dudley both posted double digit efforts off of the bench in the defeat. Frye, who shot a woeful 1/20 from the floor in the first three games of this series went 4/10 and hit three triples to help bring the Suns back from a deficit that once reached 18 points.

G Steve Nash’s great game was wasted, as he shot 12/20 from the floor for 29 points to go with 11 assists against just two turnovers.

NBA Playoff Insider Tip: After getting blown out in Games 1 and 2, the Suns have suddenly covered three straight games against the Lakers in this series.

Common logic suggests that the Suns could just fall flat after suffering such an emotional defeat. However, we tend to believe that they are going to fight tooth and nail to keep this series alive and to send it back to LA.

Expect to see Phoenix throw the kitchen sink offensively at the Lakers, and the end result should be a ‘W’ for the hosts in what could be an incredibly high scoring affair.

Our NBA playoff picks are on the Suns to send this series back to Tinseltown.

My NBA Playoff Prediction: Phoenix by 3
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