Basketball Betting: Lakers Celtics Game 7 preview
by Craig Leslie
The Lakers have faced the Celtics in the NBA finals 12 times.
Five times the series between the two storied Franchises has gone to seven games.
And five times the Celtics have beaten the Lakers in Game 7.
If Lakers want to prove history wrong, now is their chance. Celtics lack the size it takes to beat a team equipped with such deadly weapons, as the Lakers have.
And with big Kendrick Perkins missing up the middle, the Celtics’ chance at going 6-0 in Game 7′s against their arch rivals appear even slimmer.
But things are not always as they appear.
The Celtics are not the Lakers.
The Celtics share the love. As a team that has had five players leading in points for a game this playoffs (Garnett, Rondo, Pierce, Davis, and Wallace), having a player out does not affect them as much as you’d think. Perkins is the only starting player who has not led the Celtics in scoring in a 2010 Playoffs game.
Replacing Perkins will be veteran C Rasheed Wallace, the only player to come off the bench and lead the team in scoring (Scoring 21 points in 18 minutes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Magic.)
Kobe will be magnificent. There is no doubt about that. That will not be considered for even a second in this article. In Game 5, he was the only player on the Lakers (other than Gasol’s 12) to score in double digits with 38 points in the 92-86 loss to the Celtics.
However, in a Game 6 murder of the Celtics, three players scored in double digits. Kobe with 26, Gasol with 17 and Artest with 15. Also, F Lamar Odom score 8 points in 28 minutes, and G Sasha Vujacic had 9 points in 14 minutes.
After a disappointing Game 5 loss to the Suns in the Western Conference Championship, a frustrated Kobe Bryant stressed the importance of Defense winning Championships.
Defense Defense Defense.
In Game 5, the Lakers allowed 92 points. In Game 6, the Lakers allowed only 67.
In Game 5, the Lakers had 34 Rebounds (18 Defensive). In Game 6, they had 52 Rebounds (40 Defensive). Cutting the second chance points in half from Game 5 to Game 6 for the Celtics.
In Game 5, 1 block. In Game 6, 8 blocks.
Now look at the Offensive side on both games.
In both games the Lakers shot 40 percent (give or take 1 or 2 percent). In Game 6 the Lakers actually shot worse from 3-point land. Their offense was virtually the same in a close loss, and a dominating win.
The Lakers key to success for winning Game 7?
Kobe said it. Defense Defense Defense.
The Celtics shot 13 more shots in Game 6 than Game 5, and scored 25 less points.
In Game 5 they shot a spectacular 56 percent. In Game 6 they were held to a less-than-mediocre 33 percent.
Game 7 all hinders on the hands of every Laker player other than Kobe. It is already a given that he will be amazing. But will the rest of the Laker team be up to par? Put points on the board and prevent the Celtics from scoring too many points?
Judging solely on the game I have to lean Lakers. But if you believe history repeats then the Celtics are your team. Its a story of consistensy vs inconsistensy. Which Laker team will show up? In a series between two teams with the greatest history of all, I am going to say history prevails in this one. Since I think the Celtics get their way, I am taking a high scoring affair and therefore taking the Over on the Over/Under of 187. And I am going to take the Celtics in Game 7 to win the NBA Championship.
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