Cleveland Cavaliers at Boston Celtics Betting Odds


Opening Betting Lines: Cavaliers -1 / Celtics +1 O/U 191

Time: 7 PM EST Friday May 7, 2010 on ESPN

Tonight the Boston Celtics host the Cleveland Cavaliers in an important Game 3 in an Eastern Conference semifinals series. The Celtics pulled off a shocker and won Game 2 in Cleveland and now have the home court advantage in the series. Both teams are banged up, as LeBron James has a hurt elbow and the Boston bigs of Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins are nursing injuries, but will play after missing a day of practice to recover.

This best of 7 series is tied 1-1.

This season the Celtics are 24-17 at home and 32-48-2 ATS and the Cavaliers were 26-15 on the road and 39-42-1 ATS.

Boston played great defense in beating the Cavs 104-86 0n Monday night in Cleveland.

The Celtics were only up 4 at halftime in Game 2, but outscored the Cavs 31-12 in the 3rd quarter and Cleveland could not come back.

Cleveland ranks 6th this season in opponents' points allowed, but in Game 2 their defense really let them down allowing the Celtics to shoot over 51% from the field and over 47% from beyond the 3-point arc. The Cavs have to play better D tonight or they will be down in this series.

LeBron James and Antawn Jamison had decent outings in Game 2, but the other 3 starters of Shaq, Mo Williams, and Anthony Parker only combined to score 19 points on 7/26 shooting. For the game the Cavs only shot 40% from the floor.

King James did have 24 points on 7/15 shooting and hit 10 of his 15 free throws in Game 2, but did not hit one of his 3-pointers and his injured elbow was obviously giving him trouble.

The Cavs need to contain Celtics' PG Rajon Rondo, who tied a Boston playoff record with 19 assists.

In Game 2 all 5 Boston starters scored in double figures.

Shaq and Jamison need to do a much better job on the boards, as in Game 2 the Cavs were out-rebounded by 11.

Betting Trends

Cleveland is 5-12 ATS in their last 17 games, 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as a road favorite of 0.5-4.5, and has an Over record of 5-1 in their last 6 road games.

Boston is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games, 8-2-1 ATS in their last 11 games as a home underdog, and has an Over record of 6-2 in their last 8 home games.

In the last 6 games between these 2 teams the total has gone Over 5 times.

Our Selection : Take the Celtics -1 at Bodog.


Future Betting Odds

NBA Handicapping

Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat Odds 6-12
The Mavs are up 3-2 in this series heading to South Beach and for the Heat to force Game 7 they will have to play better in the 4th quarter, especially LeBron James. 5Dimes has the hometown Heat as 5-point favorites in Game 6 with a total of 187.

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