5 Burning Question – Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers

This is the matchup that the NBA was dying to see! The #4 Boston Celtics and #1 Cleveland Cavaliers will start their best of seven series on Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena. BetOnline Sportsbook poses five burning questions that will decide the outcome of this NBA playoff betting set.

NBA Basketball Odds:
Boston Celtics +325
Cleveland Cavaliers -450

1: Just how injured is LeBron James? For the sake of the Cavaliers, the answer had better be not very hurt, or their season is going to most likely come to a shocking halt. Seeing LeBron shoot foul shots left handed at the end of their series with the Bulls was difficult to watch. However, "King James" has made the royal decree that he won’t miss any time in this series, and we have to assume that means he’s 100% and ready to go at the guys in green.

2: Do the Celtics really have the ability to win a game at "The Q?" Obviously, if the answer to this is "no," then the rest of these questions are moot. However, one look at recent history for Boston at the Cavs shows that winning a game in Cleveland is a lot easier said than done. The C’s are just 1-11 SU in their L/12 trips to "The Q," and they’re only 3-9 ATS in that stretch to boot. NBA playoff betting fans need to beware for this trend, particularly in Games 1 and 2 of this series.

3: Shaq – Asset or Liability? Liability – C Joakim Noah essentially had the Big Aristotle’s lunch in five games for the Bulls, which makes us wonder just how badly C Kendrick Perkins and F Kevin Garnett can take advantage of him. O’Neal only averaged 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in the opening round of the postseason, and his numbers aren’t likely to improve.

4: Can the Boston defense do as solid job against the Cavs as it did versus the Heat? The Celtics saw firsthand that G Dwyane Wade was capable of single-handedly taking over a game and making their lives miserable. However, they really only let Wade beat them in that series with Miami. If you told HC Doc Rivers right now that James was going to average 35 points per game against his club but that they would hold the Cavs to just 97 points per game or so, he’d take it. That should be the goal right now in the Beantown clubhouse.

5: Bottom Line: Who will win this playoff series? Let’s just go back to Question 2 for a second. Can the C’s really take a game in Cleveland? We tend to believe not. They were lucky to get out of Miami with a split in Games 3 and 4 in Round 1, and the truth of the matter is that this is still the worst home team in the playoffs. As long as LeBron is healthy and the Cavs don’t totally fall asleep at the wheel, this NBA playoff betting series should be over in no more than five, possibly six games.

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