NBA Playoff Picks – Magic Return Home With Elimination Looming

Relax, Boston. The Celtics are not the Bruins. It’s a sentence worth repeating to yourself, especially with Boston letting an Eastern Conference Finals series sweep slip from their clutches.

By all accounts, the Celtics came out flat in that game, and the scary part for Orlando is that they can’t count on the veteran chemistry on Boston’s roster just handing them another win.

Boston is 5-2 ATS in seven games on the road in these NBA playoffs, and that is some very hard data to bet on.

They dropped a game to Miami in Dwyane Wade’s “final farewell” performance, and were spliced open by LeBron in Game 1 of the semi-finals series. They eagerly want to add Dwight Howard to that hit list, and the center is doing everything he can to put this team on his shoulders.

Sadly, for the Magic’s betting backers, that may not be enough. Orlando’s supposed leader scored 32 points and hauled down 16 rebounds in a rousing performance, but this team still barely got the win in overtime.

Blame Vince Carter all you want. This “superstar” amassed just 3 points, 1 assist and 7 rebounds in 30 minutes of game time. If not for J.J. Redick and Jameer Nelson bailing Carter out, the Magic would’ve lost Game 4 despite Boston’s offensive ineptitude.

Boston Celtics (50-32) vs. Orlando Magic (59-23)

Wednesday, May 26th — Amway Arena — 8:30pm EST

NBA Betting Line: Orlando -4.0 (186.5)

Collectively, Boston shot just 42.1 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from long range, putting together the worst offensive performance in this series thus far. Paul Pierce hit 11-for-25, ending with 32 points, and Ray Allen notched 22 points, but the rest of the team was a nightmare.

Rajon Rondo had his worst game of the series, racking up just 9 points and 8 assists. He wasn’t guarded supremely well; more so he just seemed like he was in a bad funk. Now that he’s the pace car of the Celtics, it’s going to be difficult for Boston to overcome bad games from their point man. I wouldn’t be caught dead betting on Rondo having back-to-back duds.

Seriously, putting Game 4 in to serious perspective, how the hell did Orlando not blow the doors off of Boston? When your opponent is shooting that pathetically, and your superstars is going bonkers on offense and defense, a 4-point win isn’t that impressive. It just isn’t.

There are probably two guys that could threaten the Boston Celtics, and surprisingly they aren’t guys we would’ve expected. Brandon Bass gave Boston’s burly front court a ton of fits, and Redick is just a dagger thrower in clutch situations. It’s too bad that Stan Van Gundy is drinking too much of the Vince kool-aid to bother giving either of these guys serious minutes.

Why Rashard Lewis is still starting is embarrassing for both him, SVG and the Magic.

Boston gets back to the exact business they should’ve wrapped up on Sunday. It’s not a sweep, but a win in Game 5 will send them back to the NBA Finals and that was mission one from the beginning. Bank on it.

Furious NBA Playoff Pick – Boston +4.0 (OVER)