Posted on
4/11/2008 2:58:02 PM
NBA Basketball Betting Futures - Who can beat the Celtics?
By BetUS Staff
With less than a week to go in the regular season, NBA sports betting fans are getting ready to make their playoff picks. In the East right now seven of the eight playoff teams are already locked in, with the Atlanta Hawks guaranteed eighth place if they pick up some wins this weekend. No one is worried about the Hawks making a run through the postseason though, because in the East it’s all about the Boston Celtics.
Right now the Celtics are big favorites to roll through the rest of the East all the way to the NBA Finals, at -350 on the futures odds list. With Boston likely facing the Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs, it doesn’t look like the Celtics have to fear becoming this year’s Dallas Mavericks and exiting early. Boston is 2-0 versus Atlanta this season and the Hawks are a paltry 11-28 on the road, while the Celtics own everyone at the Garden with a 33-6 record on their home court. The Hawks are a gigantic +6000 underdog to win the East.
With the Celtics almost assured an easy ride through the opening round, does anyone in the East have a chance to send the mighty Celtics packing in the postseason? The teams with the best chance according to the futures odds are Detroit, listed at +240, and the reigning Eastern Conference champs, Cleveland at +650.
The Pistons are the team everyone looks to when anyone brings up a possible challenger to Boston. The Pistons have faced the Celtics three times this season and have beaten them only once. Oddly enough, that one win came in Boston. The Pistons have shown their old reliable starting five can shut down the Celtics’ Big Three, but can they do it every night through a potential seven-game series?
The Cavaliers have matched up with the Celtics four times this year and have split the season series 2-2. Just like last year, the Cavs will go as far in the postseason as LeBron James will take them. James exploded for 38 points and 33 points in the Cavs’ two wins against the Celtics, and actually missed one of Cleveland’s losses to Boston, so don’t count out the Cavs against the Celtics if they collide in the postseason.
A dark horse that bettors will want to remember if they should meet up with the Celtics in the postseason is Washington at +3000. The Wizards are an impressive 3-1 versus the Celtics this season, which included a 109-95 win as a 2-point home underdog on the NBA betting odds earlier this week. Washington has played most of the season with at least one of their big three (Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison) sidelined, so they could be very dangerous with everyone healthy in the postseason.
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