The Los Angeles Lakers look to avoid making history tonight when they welcome the Boston Celtics into the Staples Center for a critical Game 6 of the NBA betting Finals; tip is set for 9:00 ET and the game can be seen live on ABC.
If the Celtics were to win their 18th championship in franchise history this evening, the 2009-10 Lakers would become the first team ever to lose a Finals series in the 2-3-2 format after taking a 2-1 series lead after winning Game 3. A loss would also move head coach Phil Jackson to 47-1 SU after winning Game 1 of a playoff series.
The Lakers are 6.5-point NBA Finals Game 6 odds favorites and the over/under is 189.
Since it dropped Game 3 at home, the Boston Celtics have turned the intensity of this series up quite a few notches. They’ve outcoached, outhustled, outscored, outboarded, and outplayed the Lakers in each of the last two games. Boston also looks to be playing with more of the desire needed to win the series.
Take Game 5 for instance; Kobe did his part, but the rest of the team was simply putrid. Bryant went off for a game high 38 points on 13-of-27 shooting from the field, and at one point, rattled off 21 straight points in the 3rd quarter.
He did however fall flat in the 4th quarter once again, which has many of the belief that all the injuries he incurred throughout the season are taking their toll when it matters most.
A quick glance at the box score from Game 5 will find that he, along with Pau Gasol, were the only Lakers to tally double-digits. There’s no excuse for that type of production from a team looking to win back-to-back championships.
Their bench also continued to be a non-factor on Sunday night with Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar, and Sasha Vujacic accounting for a total of 14 points. Odom’s contributions can best be described as horrific in this series, as he’s scored a total of 38 points through the five games played.
Though Andrew Bynum managed to more than double his minutes on the court from Game 4, he proved to be largely ineffective scoring six points and grabbing a lone rebound; the Lakers were -12 with him on the court. His knee continues to give him issues, and him not being at full strength has allowed the Celtics to continue dominating in the paint.
Every game the Celtics have won in this series, they’ve won the battle of the boards. Though it squeaked out a 35-34 advantage on Sunday, 28 of them came on Lakers’ misses which shortened the game and allowed the Celtics to control their final home game of the 2009-10 NBA betting season.
The Los Angeles Lakers have scored more points in the paint than Boston once in this series, and that came way back in Game 1. Their 46-32 advantage in Game 5 was mostly due to the efforts of Kevin Garnett who secured his first double-double of the Finals with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Though he went diva in the closing seconds of the first half, Paul “The Truth” Pierce led all Boston scorers with 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the field. His 19.1 PPG average in the Finals will undoubtedly have him up for consideration of MVP if indeed the Celtics close this one out tonight.
Boston is 6-4 SU & ATS on the road in the 2010 NBA betting playoffs, and have secured road victories in crucial road spots against all four of its post-season opponents. Head coach Doc Rivers’ squad is 6-2 ATS its L/8 trips to the Staples Center.
The Lakers have only fallen once at home in these playoffs, but that defeat came at the hands of these Celtics in Game 2 of the Finals. In order to move this series to a deciding Game 7, the Lakers will be faced with the challenge of dealing with their 3-3 SU & 1-5 ATS marks when trailing in a playoff series the L/3 seasons.
Total players have seen the ‘under’ cash in five of the L/7 (5-1-1 ATS) overall battles between these esteemed rivals.
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