NBA Playoffs Betting – Saturday Picks – Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics
Before nba betting fans turn their attention to more basketball betting events this week, we have some more good NBA Playoff gambling matchups to pick on tap, and our man Lawrence weighs in with his picks for game 2 of the Celtics vs. Heat . It’s time for our weekly Playoff hoops picks for NBA gambling action.
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HEAT vs. CELTICS
Time: Saturday 8 p.m. EST
Venue: TD Garden, Boston
Spread: Celtics -3
Over/Under: 183
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In Boston, there is concern that the faithful are hearing death rattles from a team that they once thought could win another NBA championship but is now just another team on its last legs. That Miami is just too young, too good, tool athletic.
The Celtics are down 0-2, and by this time tomorrow it may be 0-3 and the door will be all but officially shut on this group of players who were assembled for the sole purpose of adding more banners to the rafters.
The Garnett/Allen/Pierce/Rondo foursome did get that title in 2008, but injuries to Garnett (2009) and now-dispatched center Kendrick Perkins (last year in The Finals) short-circuited plans for yet another banner, and now the Heat – young, strong and running against the wind – have to win but two of the next five to send the Celtics out of the playoffs and into uncertainty.
Reaction to the Perkins trade to Oklahoma City has ranged from disbelief to more disbelief. Boston Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge is getting skewered for sending Perkins to OKC, and the criticism has only gotten louder as the players they got in return (Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green) have become more and more invisible.
Green has been outed as soft and slow-footed as he adjusts to his role as a non-starter, and Krstic has given Boston nothing in the playoffs even though the Knicks and Heat have no one in the middle themselves.
It’s been almost 20 years since the Bird-Parish-McHale Celtics faded into oblivion, and now the fandom sees history repeating itself. Celtic followers are hoping against hope that Pierce will become an unstoppable scorer for the next few weeks, Garnett can keep the juices flowing and return temporarily to the defensive stopper he once was, and that Allen can again rain 3s.
But it’s a long shot, and everyone in New England is now coming to realize that this particular group of Celtics is fading fast.
NBA Trends:
MIA are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 vs. NBA Atlantic.
MIA are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
Under is 8-2 in BOS last 10 home games.
Under is 18-7-1 in BOS last 26 overall.
Under is 5-2-1 in BOS last 8 vs. NBA Southeast.
Under is 15-5-1 in the last 21 meetings in Boston.
Favorite is 15-6 ATS in the last 21 meetings.
BEST BET: Shaq reportedly will play, but at this point what can a 39-year-old overweight caricature who has hardly practiced in the last 3 months actually contribute? Give Boston props in a Game 3 that will be played in front of an energized home crowd that will try to prop up the Celtics.
Boston -3, with an accompanying over play.
Lawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling expert from Massachusetts.
