NBA Finals Action – Back Kobe and the Gang in Game 3

NBA Finals betting action continues on Tuesday night in Beantown, as the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics do battle for third time in this best of seven championship series.

Boston drew even at a game apiece on Sunday night in Tinseltown, as the C’s stole back home court advantage in the NBA Finals with a 103-94 win.

Boston Celtics (63-38, 46-53-2 ATS) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (70-30, 43-54-3 ATS)

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, June 8th, 9:00 ET
Game Location: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA
TV/Radio Broadcast: ABC, TSN, Sirius

NBA Finals Odds
Los Angeles Lakers +2.5
Boston Celtics -2.5
Game Total 192.5

G Kobe Bryant knows that Game 2 was one that he let slip away on Sunday night. The head man for the Lakers did score 21 points in defeat, but it felt like every time he needed to come up with a big shot, he drew iron. In total, Bryant shot just 8/20 from the field, which contributed to a woeful 40.8 percent shooting performance by the team.

F Pau Gasol and C Andrew Bynum were huge bright spots in an otherwise very dismal game for the Lakers. Gasol scored 25 points to go with eight rebounds and six blocked shots, while Bynum had arguably his best game of the postseason, scoring 21 points on 6/10 shooting with six rebounds and seven blocks. Bynum also stayed on the court for 39 minutes, far more than he has seen in any game in over two series thanks to his knee injury.

G Ray Allen was simply put, the man, for the Celtics in Game 2. He nailed eight threes, seven of which came in the first half, to set an NBA Finals record in that category. All told, he scored 32 points, which led all scorers in the game.

However, the MVP for the Celtics may not have been Allen.

G Rajon Rondo had a triple-double on Sunday night with 19 points, 12 boards, and ten helpers. He nearly had the triple-double completed in just three quarters of play. Rondo was perfect from the field in the decisive fourth quarter that saw the Celtics outscore the Lakers 31-22.

Boston still has to be concerned with the quantity of shots that it is getting blocked and the subsequent poor shooting percentages that it has in this series. The Celtics have only connected on 43.3 percent and 42.9 percent of their shots in Games 1 and 2 respectively.

NBA Finals Insider Tip: LA had covered four straight NBA Finals betting clashes before getting punked by the Celtics in Game 2.

Bottom Line: It’s Kobe Time. Bryant isn’t going to take kindly to the fact that he performed so poorly in the face of Game 2 adversity, and we fully expect to see him come out of the blocks like a bull in a china shop on Tuesday night.

We’ve probably seen the best out of the Celtics. We probably haven’t seen the best out of the Lakers. We just might tonight!

Back Kobe and the gang in NBA Finals action in Tuesday’s Game 3.

My NBA Playoff Prediction: Los Angeles by 5