The 2009-10 NBA betting season champs will be crowned on Thursday night in the Staples Center when the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers partake in the seventh and final game of the NBA betting Finals.
The Lakers are 7-point Game 7 NBA Championship odds favorites and the over/under is 187.
With their backs against the wall having just got run out of Boston and facing elimination in Game 6, head coach Phil Jackson’s squad turned in their best performance of the post-season by trouncing the Celtics 89-67.
The 67 points allowed by the Los Angeles Lakers was the second lowest scoring output in NBA Finals history. The game was eerily reminiscent of the Game 6 beat down the Celtics dished out to clinch their 17th overall championship back in 2008; only it wasn’t nearly as high scoring.
Los Angeles wasted no time letting its intentions be known as it raced out to a 10-point lead after the first quarter of play. That lead was doubled in the second stanza when the defending champs went into the break with a comfortable 20-point lead.
Boston lost big man Kendrick Perkins in the 1st quarter, but his absence alone was no excuse for them to get outboarded 30-13 and shoot just 34 percent from the field throughout the first 24 minutes of game action.
The second half saw both teams simply go through the motions, as the Boston Celtics knew in the back of its mind that there was no way it was getting back in it. The 22-point shellacking saw the Lakers even the NBA odds battle up at three games apiece, and the ‘under’ has now cashed in four of the six overall games (4-1-1 ATS).
The team that’s outrebounded its opponent is now a perfect 6-0 SU & ATS in this series. With LA owning a dominating 52-39 advantage on the glass in Game 6, it comes as no surprise that it picked up the home win and cover.
Pau Gasol hauled in 13 boards to tally his fourth double-digit output in the series, but it was the play of Lamar Odom off the bench who finally infused his team with some energy for the first time this series. The former Rhode Island product tallied eight overall points, but also had 10 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
Ron Artest also matched his Game 1 scoring total with 15 points and knocked down three of his six attempts from beyond the arc.
Looking to claw to within a championship of the great Michael Jordan and tie Lakers legend Magic Johnson at five, Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field. He tied his playoff betting high of 11 rebounds to help aid the Lakers in acquiring such a huge rebounding advantage.
As for Boston, it was far from pretty. The offense failed to show up, and it lost the points in the paint battle for the first time since Game 1. Ray Allen led all Boston scorers with 19 points, and the bench was simply nonexistent.
Because LA successfully defended its home court in a do-or-die Game 6, the NBA Finals will now be stretched out to a full seven-games for the first time since 2005 when the San Antonio Spurs outlasted the Detroit Pistons. The Finals have gone the full allotment of games 16 previous times.
This rivalry has seen four Game 7 match-ups in their previous 11 NBA Finals betting meetings; Boston won outright on each occasion.
Will it be the Celtics that snag their 18th overall championship or will the Lakers pull off the back-to-back feat? Whichever side you’re rooting for, be sure to tune into ABC at 9:00 ET to take in the final NBA betting contest of the season!
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