After a shock three-point win in Game 3 on Monday, the Celtics have tightened the gap between themselves and the Cavaliers and now trail 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals heading into Game 4 in Cleveland this Wednesday, May 24th.
The Cavs blew out to a large 16-point lead at half time of Game 4 before some inspired play by the guard combo of Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart led the Celtics to outscore their opponents by 11 points in the 3rd quarter.
Smart particularly had a massive game, shooting seven 3’s on his way to 27 points while the Celtics combined for 18 3pters on the night. We predicted Boston would have one of these type of 3pt shooting nights throughout the series but we didn’t expect it to come on a night when Isaiah Thomas wasn’t playing.
Granted, the Celtics were a lot better at stemming the rebounding dominance of the Cavs and particularly Tristan Thompson, but to expect them to have another game shooting 3s as hot as they did would be unrealistic.
There’s also the fact that LeBron James had arguably one of the worst playoff games of his career, scoring only 11 points and 6 assists.
The Celtics were definitely gallant in Game 3 but we can’t bank on them having another game like that. The line is surprisingly still set at 15 points so we do like the Celtics to at least cover here.
TIP: Boston Celtics +15 - $1.95 at Sportsbet
Kevin Love didn’t take a backwards step in Game 3, scoring 28 points and draining another seven 3s to take his series tally to 17. We expect his hot streak to continue here and we’ll take advantage of Ladbrokes great special.
TIP: Kevin Love to score 23+ & the Cavaliers to win - $2.50 at Ladbrokes
