Bet on Basketball Playoffs – Boston vs Orlando

The Orlando Magic won game four and staved off elimination for at least one more game. Stan Van Gundy has said it was only a matter of time before an NBA team comes back from 0-3 to win a seven game series, so why not now.  The Boston Celtics have other ideas and don’t plan to be the second Boston team to choke away a 3-0 lead in the 2010 playoffs.

The NBA odds makers like Magic to take game five from the Celtics as they have Orlando the -3½ point favorites and a bet on the underdog Celtics to win straight up will pay NBA betting fans +140 on the moneyline. The game total is set at 186 points. 

NBA Eastern Conference Odds
May 26, 2010
Boston Celtics    +3½ -110              +140     
Orlando Magic   -3½ -110               -160      
Game Totals       186
Location: Amway Arena, Orlando FL
Game Time: 8:30pm
TV: ESPN

It’s happened only four times in the history of North American sports, three times have been in the NHL and once it’s happened in MLB when the Boston Red Sox came back from an 0-3 hole to beat the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS.

Is it possible that the Magic come back from 0-3 to beat these Celtics? It’s possible but not very likely, this Celtics team won a championship in 2008 and the intensity of this team is far above anything the Magic can bring.

Dwight Howard is only 24 and to be fair to Dwight, he’s taken more heat for the Magic’s failings, than LeBron James has for the Cavaliers. He’s a defensive dominator but he does need to learn to put the ball in the bucket from inside 8 feet, with his size, he should score 30+ every game.

It’s the rest of the Magic that have laid down, it’s hard to imagine that any player could make someone miss Hedo Turkoglu, especially since the dog of a season Turk had in Toronto but Vince Carter has been up to his old tricks. Carter will show flashes of aggression but once he gets a little bump, he falls back and shoots fade away J’s the rest of the game.  Jeff Van Gundy said it best when during the game three broadcast he said, “If Vince had Kobe’s will…how great would he be?” Carter has all the physical skills but he doesn’t have a winner’s mentality. 

As much as I don’t think the Magic have the mental makeup to take four straight from the Celtics, they do have an exceptionally talented team. They should pull out one more win in this series, just enough to put a scare into the Celtics fans. Orlando should cover the spread and send this game back to Boston for game six.