NBA Finals Game 7...Enough Said
By Steve Makinen
With an emphatic, historic blowout win in Game 6 Tuesday night, Los Angeles earned the right to host the grand finale to the NBA season. The winner-take-all Game 7 between the Lakers and Celtics is set for Thursday night, with the tip-off at 9:05 PM ET. Despite the 67-points scored by the Celtics and the 22-point winning margin, oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com have adjusted the opening line only slightly, making the Lakers 7-point favorites after showing them at minus-6.5 points on Tuesday.
This being the biggest game of the season, expect betting action to be brisk. On Tuesday, a greater percentage of bettors (53%) actually favored the Celtics against the number at Sportsbook.com. It will be interesting to see how they react to the price for Game 7.
In the game Tuesday night, Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, Pau Gasol added 17 points and 13 rebounds, and the Lakers held Boston to the second lowest-scoring performance in NBA finals history in an 89-67 victory.
Faced with elimination for the first time in this postseason, the defending champion Lakers didn’t flinch.
“We’re used to being in must-win situations,” Bryant said. “The way we look at it, (Game 7) is just a game we’ve got to win. … I don’t mean to be a buzzkill. I know what’s at stake, but I’m not tripping.”
He left that to the Celtics, who fell all over themselves after falling behind by 22 points in the first half. Boston memorably eliminated the Lakers in the sixth game of the 2008 finals with a 39-point blowout—but this time around, the Celtics lost their series lead and their starting center in one disastrous Game 6, as Kendrick Perkins will have to miss the all-important game with a knee injury.
These rivals have played a Game 7 four times in their 11 previous finals meetings, with Boston winning all four. But it hasn’t happened since 1984—and it hasn’t happened to Bryant or head coach Phil Jackson.
Overall, this will be just the third NBA Finals Game 7 in the last 23 years. There hasn’t been a winner-take-all finals game since San Antonio finished off Detroit five years ago, and Thursday’s Game 7 will be the 17th in NBA history. The Spurs’ victory over the Pistons was the first Game 7 since 1994, when the Houston Rockets capped a comeback with two home victories over the New York Knicks and their point guard—now Celtics’ head coach Doc Rivers.
In the ugly loss, Paul Pierce scored 13 points and Kevin Garnett added 12, but the Celtics’ offense was a jumbled, stand-around mess. Rajon Rondo(notes), the late-game hero in Boston’s last appearance in Los Angeles, got off to a 1-for-8 shooting start before finishing with 10 points and six assists.
“I thought we’d play better, obviously,” Rivers said. “I thought we were ready. … We played an individual game tonight on both ends. We never gave ourselves an opportunity offensively, because we never trusted each other. Everybody was out to make their own place.”
The Lakers improved to 10-1 in the postseason at Staples Center, while the Celtics dropped to 3-4 in closeout playoff games this season—including 0-3 on the road. Boston had nine chances to finish a playoff series away from home in the past three postseasons, but has been successful only once.
Here are some of the key StatFox betting angles that figure to affect this contest:
Favoring LA Lakers:
# BOSTON is 9-21 ATS (-14.1 Units) versus up-tempo teams averaging 83 or more shots/game this season. The average score was BOSTON 96.4, OPPONENT 96.4 - (Rating = 2*)
Favoring Boston:
# BOSTON is 8-0 ATS (+8.0 Units) in road games revenging a road loss vs opponent over the last 2 seasons. The average score was BOSTON 104.9, OPPONENT 92.6 - (Rating = 1*)
Favoring OVER the total:
# LA LAKERS are 18-5 OVER (+12.5 Units) after a combined score of 160 points or less since 1996. The average score was LA LAKERS 101.5, OPPONENT 97.1 - (Rating = 1*)
Favoring UNDER the total:
# LA LAKERS are 10-1 UNDER (+8.9 Units) after allowing 80 points or less over the last 2 seasons. The average score was LA LAKERS 100.9, OPPONENT 97.1 - (Rating = 1*)