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
Source: BetUS Locker Room Featured on: Handicapperspicks.com

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
Source: BetUS Locker Room Featured on: Handicapperspicks.com

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
Source: BetUS Locker Room Featured on: Handicapperspicks.com