Monday Night NBA

By Divol

Boston Celtics v Orlando Magic



25th May 01:30 GMT
ESPN (01:30-04:00)

Before Game 3 I was confident that Orlando can win the game or at least cover the line of 4 points that they got. But unfortunately Orlando didn't feel the same. Orlando didn't believe in themselves and you could see it. They didn't put up any fight and you could see that the Boston players were first to almost every loose ball. If we add the awful game by Lewis and Howard, Magic really didn't have a chance. Van Gundy and the rest of the Magic just looked beaten after the match. It's true they had two days to recover, but if they didn't show any fighting spirit with three days’ rest between games and trailing 0 – 2 to Boston, I see no reason they will show up for Game 4, trailing 0 – 3. Unlike teams that are 0 – 3 behind and play at home and may want to get one win under their belt for their fans, here they don't even have that as a motivation.

Boston on the other hand, should give Orlando respect. Orlando are a team in their level if not better so the last thing that Boston would want is to return to Boston for Game 6 with their lead down to 3 – 2 only. They should sweep the broken team that is before them, because one win here can really turn the series, even if Orlando right now doesn’t believe in it. Boston should start strong and kill any hope for the Magic to save some dignity from the first second of the game. We saw that Magic break pretty fast and Boston will try to do it again. I believe that Boston will win by double digits or has a good chance to lose the game. So I will take the bet on Boston -7 and take a little insurance to cover most of the bet by taking Magic ML. I will also try Boston for 1st half, since as I said, they should start the game strong.

The last bet will be as it been the whole series, Howard Under 17.5 points – no reason to write yet again the reasons, but I can add that this time I see the chances as even better, since if Magic do give up, he shouldn't see too much playing time, since the last thing that you want when you're being swept is to have your star player injured by some dumb injury that will effect next season as well.

Picks:

Boston -7, 1.91 – 2.5 units play – Ladbrokes

Orlando to win – 4.34 odds – 0.75 units play - Pinnacle

Boston -4 at HT – 1.9 - 1.5 units play – Sky Bet

Howard Under 17.5 points – 2.07 odds - 2 units play - Pinnacle

Divol