Furious NBA Finals Betting – Can Lakers Put Celtics On Brink?

Of all the old dogs in this race, the one guy that we never saw coming was Derek Fisher.

In Game 3 of NBA Finals betting, Fisher played the part of fourth-quarter hero, and lifted the defending champion Lakers to a 2-1 SU lead in the series.

With Game 4 in Boston, the biggest question is how the Boston Celtics respond, because if they can’t then the Lakers will all but clinch this series.

Which reminds me – have you ever seen an old dog, like a really old dog, limping around in a dog park. It can’t run fast enough to keep up with the other young pups. The poor thing is constantly looking to its owner for reassurance.

Most of the time it’s just limping around. Then another dog attacks it a bit too aggressively, and the old dog shows all sorts of fight and resilience?

That, to me, is the Boston Celtics. This is still a team relying on three players already in their mid-thirties with plenty of minutes logged on their legs. Ray Allen failed to hit a single shot from the field in Game 3, and Paul Pierce had an off night as well.

They looked very much like that old dog scurrying around the park.

Now they’ve been bitten. Hard. The Celtics know that Kevin Garnett, like Pau Gasol, will have trouble winning games offensively. He is better served keeping Gasol, Odom and Bynum under wraps defensively.

Los Angeles Lakers (57-25) vs. Boston Celtics (50-32)

Thursday, June 10th — TD Garden — 9:00pm EST

NBA Betting Line: Boston -3.5 (190)

We tend to rely on betting trends a lot in basketball. The Lakers are 4-2 ATS in their last 6 games on the road, and just 2-4-1 ATS in their last 7 games in Boston. The Celtics are a stern 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 games when playing L.A., but are just 2-5 SU when playing the Lakers in recent history.

If you’re a number cruncher, it’s even more daunting that the team that wins Game 3 has gone 10-0 in the NBA Finals since the move to the 2-3-2 format. On top of that, Phil Jackson has never lost a playoff series where he’s won the first game.

Things don’t look good for the Celtics long-term, but to even have a chance of casting shadows on those numbers, they must win in Game 4 to have a shot at the NBA Championship.

The key to victory for the Celtics is, and always has been, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen. Boston almost expects a 20+ point effort from Pierce, but somebody needs to add pressure from range. Usually it’s one of the two backcourt starters, but in Game 3 neither could get going.

That won’t happen again. Ray Allen especially has been accused of dogging it in the playoffs, like he did during the 2008 championship run. So what happened? He responded at crucial moments, hitting pivotal shots and blowing up on the scoreboard to help the C’s lift the trophy.

Allen knows that the responsibility is on his shoulders to spread the defense of the Lakers with his perimeter shooting.

Whether the Celtics can survive the onslaught of the Lakers as they smell blood and ride the coattails of NBA playoff betting trends remains to be seen. For the short term, Game 4 is within their grasp. Don’t be fooled by the Lakers in this series, they haven’t played especially well.

Take Boston on the NBA betting line to even the series before the weekend.

Furious NBA Finals Pick – Boston -3.5 (UNDER)