The Los Angeles Lakers invade the TD Banknorth Garden to take on the Boston Celtics off a home loss for the first time this post-season looking to reclaim home court advantage in Game 3 of the NBA betting Finals; tip is scheduled for 9:00 ET and the game can be seen live on ABC.
The Celtics are 2.5-points NBA Game 3 odds favorites and the over/under is 192.5.
After pulling up lame in Game 1 of this series, the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics had a pair of incredible individual efforts to help lead them to tying the series up at a game apiece.
SG Ray Allen was a man amongst boys going off for a game high 32 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field; that mark included an 8-of-11 effort from beyond the arc which set an NBA Finals record for marksmanship from downtown.
He wasn’t the only star to show up in Tinseltown however, as Rajon Rondo had another outstanding game to put yet another triple-double on his playoffs resume. He ended up scoring 19 points, dishing off 10 dimes, and hauling in 12 rebounds. The former Kentucky Wildcat has really etched his name into the upper echelon of guards in this league throughout the basketball betting playoffs.
Though the club shot less than 44 percent from the field for the second straight game (42.9%), Boston won the rebounding battle this time around and also turned the ball over less than the Lakers (13-15); losing out in both categories were two of the main reasons why it came up 13 points short in Game 1.
Troubling though was the fact that PF Kevin Garnett only scored six points and had just four rebounds. His lack of presence was one of the main reasons the Lakers “Bigs” were able to pretty much have their way in Game 2.
Speaking off the Los Angeles Lakers trees, PF Pau Gasol and C Andrew Bynum had monster games to help keep their club in it the whole way through. The duo combined for 46 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 blocked shots. Bynum was also able to remain on the court for 39 minutes of game action showing no ill effects from the knee problems that hampered him earlier.
Head Coach Phil Jackson hasn’t gotten much from his bench throughout the first two games of this series, as it’s combined to score a whopping total of 30 points. A missing persons report has been filed as to the whereabouts of SF Lamar Odom who’s been a flat out no-show in this series.
The former Rhode Island product has scored a total of eight points and pulled down nine boards heading into Game 3. He most definitely needs to play a role tonight and for the rest of the series if the Lakers are to pull off the repeat.
After having his 30+ PPG streak snapped in Game 2, you can bet top dollar on Kobe Bryant coming out with his hair on fire this evening looking to get his club back in the win column.
The Lakers are 4-4 SU & ATS in their eight NBA playoff betting games to date, while the Celtics have won seven of their nine home playoff games both SU & ATS.
LA is just 3-9 SU & 4-8 ATS as a road underdog of three points or less this season, but is 5-1 SU & 4-2 ATS when revenging a home loss against an opponent.
Boston’s dominated Los Angeles going 10-3-1 ATS in the team’s L/14 overall meetings and 4-1-1 against the NBA odds the L/6 times they welcomed them into the “Garden.”
The Lakers are a bankroll depleting 5-14 ATS the L/19 times they played on one day’s rest, while the Celtics have flourished in that role covering seven of the L/9 times.
Mike Rose has been in the sports handicapping business for over a decade, and is a leading sports writer for some of the top sports betting news websites on the internet. To keep up with him on a daily basis, you can