Bulls, Celtics prepare for epic Game 7 battle
Bulls, Celtics prepare for epic Game 7 battle
With four of the six games do far going into overtime, including Thursday night's triple-OT win for the Bulls over the Celtics, Game 7 on Saturday in Boston promises to be an amazing finale for NBA's the first round.
The basketball gods are definitely smiling on us this year. We’ve seen a little bit of everything during the opening round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, from buzzer-beaters to flying elbows.
We’ve seen the Houston Rockets advance to the second round, which (sort of) breaks Tracy McGrady’s futility streak. And on Saturday, we’ll see the conclusion to one of the truly epic series in league history.
Game 7: Chicago at Boston
Saturday, May 2, (8:00 p.m. (ET) TNT
You can’t make this stuff up. The Bulls evened this Eastern Conference quarterfinal at three games apiece by downing the defending champions 128-127 in triple overtime. Handicappers who watched this bout were taken on a rollercoaster ride with the Celtics eventually earning the cover as 3-point road dogs. This was the third straight game to go into OT and the fourth in the series; all those extra frames have made life easy for the over at 5-1.
High scores are nothing new to Boston these days. They don’t have 2008 Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett, and point guard/mauler Rajon Rondo is working with a sore ankle, so opponents are finding it easier to get to the bucket. The over is 20-8 in Boston’s last 28 games and 35-16-1 at the Garden, where the C’s are also coming up short at 5-14 ATS in their last 19 appearances.
All three of Chicago’s ATS wins in this series were at the Garden. The betting odds for the first two games had Boston laying 8.5 points; although the line didn’t move for Game 2, the action started migrating to the Bulls after their opening win, and by the time Tuesday’s Game 5 rolled around there was enough love for Chicago to make the line 7.5 points – with plenty of early support for the Bulls before the public hopped on the C’s bandwagon. That early support proved to be sharp, as it often does.
Game 1: Dallas at Denver
Sunday, May 3, 3:30 p.m. (ET) ABC
Now this is different. The Denver Nuggets are on to bigger things after five straight years of bowing out in the opening round. And the San Antonio Spurs are not here for the first time since 2000; instead, Denver’s opponents in Sunday’s Western semifinal are the formerly soft Dallas Mavericks. Beating the Spurs gave Dallas its first playoff series win since reaching the NBA Finals in 2006.
Denver opened as a 5.5-point home favorite in Game 1 with a total of 207 points. The Nuggets were perfect at 5-0 ATS during their first-round demolition of the New Orleans Hornets, which included a record-tying 121-63 cakewalk in Game 4. There isn’t a hotter team in the league; the Nuggets ended the season on a 14-3 run (10-7 ATS) to grab the second seed in the West. And one of those wins was at Dallas (-3.5) to complete a season-series sweep at 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS.
Mavericks supporters are counting on some of their own late-season mojo. Dallas took advantage of the wounded Spurs at 4-1 ATS and put together a nice playoff drive of its own at 9-4 (7-6 ATS). Coach Rick Carlisle has tightened his rotation and leaned heavily on his best players – with Josh Howard (23.5 PER against the Spurs) earning Carlisle’s unofficial series MVP vote. Jose Juan Barea (15.1 PER) has also emerged as a viable starter in the backcourt when Dallas needed one the most. These are two underrated and valuable players in the shadows of Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and owner Mark Cuban.
Denver has the added home-court advantage in this series of playing one mile above sea level at the Pepsi Center, plus the deeper bench of the two teams. The Nuggets are still a fast team even with Chauncey Billups at the point; at this altitude, the older Mavs are going to have to give minutes to their less accomplished reserves. That’s how spreads get covered.
With four of the six games do far going into overtime, including Thursday night's triple-OT win for the Bulls over the Celtics, Game 7 on Saturday in Boston promises to be an amazing finale for NBA's the first round.
The basketball gods are definitely smiling on us this year. We’ve seen a little bit of everything during the opening round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, from buzzer-beaters to flying elbows.
We’ve seen the Houston Rockets advance to the second round, which (sort of) breaks Tracy McGrady’s futility streak. And on Saturday, we’ll see the conclusion to one of the truly epic series in league history.
Game 7: Chicago at Boston
Saturday, May 2, (8:00 p.m. (ET) TNT
You can’t make this stuff up. The Bulls evened this Eastern Conference quarterfinal at three games apiece by downing the defending champions 128-127 in triple overtime. Handicappers who watched this bout were taken on a rollercoaster ride with the Celtics eventually earning the cover as 3-point road dogs. This was the third straight game to go into OT and the fourth in the series; all those extra frames have made life easy for the over at 5-1.
High scores are nothing new to Boston these days. They don’t have 2008 Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett, and point guard/mauler Rajon Rondo is working with a sore ankle, so opponents are finding it easier to get to the bucket. The over is 20-8 in Boston’s last 28 games and 35-16-1 at the Garden, where the C’s are also coming up short at 5-14 ATS in their last 19 appearances.
All three of Chicago’s ATS wins in this series were at the Garden. The betting odds for the first two games had Boston laying 8.5 points; although the line didn’t move for Game 2, the action started migrating to the Bulls after their opening win, and by the time Tuesday’s Game 5 rolled around there was enough love for Chicago to make the line 7.5 points – with plenty of early support for the Bulls before the public hopped on the C’s bandwagon. That early support proved to be sharp, as it often does.
Game 1: Dallas at Denver
Sunday, May 3, 3:30 p.m. (ET) ABC
Now this is different. The Denver Nuggets are on to bigger things after five straight years of bowing out in the opening round. And the San Antonio Spurs are not here for the first time since 2000; instead, Denver’s opponents in Sunday’s Western semifinal are the formerly soft Dallas Mavericks. Beating the Spurs gave Dallas its first playoff series win since reaching the NBA Finals in 2006.
Denver opened as a 5.5-point home favorite in Game 1 with a total of 207 points. The Nuggets were perfect at 5-0 ATS during their first-round demolition of the New Orleans Hornets, which included a record-tying 121-63 cakewalk in Game 4. There isn’t a hotter team in the league; the Nuggets ended the season on a 14-3 run (10-7 ATS) to grab the second seed in the West. And one of those wins was at Dallas (-3.5) to complete a season-series sweep at 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS.
Mavericks supporters are counting on some of their own late-season mojo. Dallas took advantage of the wounded Spurs at 4-1 ATS and put together a nice playoff drive of its own at 9-4 (7-6 ATS). Coach Rick Carlisle has tightened his rotation and leaned heavily on his best players – with Josh Howard (23.5 PER against the Spurs) earning Carlisle’s unofficial series MVP vote. Jose Juan Barea (15.1 PER) has also emerged as a viable starter in the backcourt when Dallas needed one the most. These are two underrated and valuable players in the shadows of Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and owner Mark Cuban.
Denver has the added home-court advantage in this series of playing one mile above sea level at the Pepsi Center, plus the deeper bench of the two teams. The Nuggets are still a fast team even with Chauncey Billups at the point; at this altitude, the older Mavs are going to have to give minutes to their less accomplished reserves. That’s how spreads get covered.
