There have now been 11 teams eliminated coming into the Conference finals. The Los Angeles Lakers are in the in the Western Conference finals after just ten games. They dispatched the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets with 4-1 series wins. They will face either the Denver Nuggets or local rivals the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers and Nuggets went to game 7 after an exciting game six the other night.
The Eastern Conference finals are ready to get underway with the fifth seed Miami Heat taking on the third seed Boston Celtics. Miami swept the Indiana Pacers 4-0 in the first round followed by a shock 4-1 series win over the first seed Milwaukee Bucks. The Boston Celtics swept the Philadelphia 76ers 4-0 in the first round. The Celtics followed up a tight series against the Toronto Raptors which they finished out with a game seven win.
Miami Heat @ Boston Celtics, Tuesday 15th September, 5.40 p.m.
Kicking off the Eastern Conference finals with game one. The Miami Heat takes on Boston who is the most successful NBA Franchise in history. The Celtic’s beat the Heat twice during the regular season before the break for sport. However, the Heat won their third game in the NBA bubble by six points. A key player for the Heat will be Bam Adebayo. The big man caused a lot of issues for the Celtics inside defense in the last game.
Jimmy Butler can also attack the rim and get himself to the free-throw line. If the Celtics focus on the inside too much Miami has the ability to score a barrage of three-pointers. The Heat have a variety of attack methods available to start racking scores up on the board. The Bucks gave Miami the freedom to hit three-pointers and it cost them the series.
Boston will look to Kemba Walker to step up his game as he struggled in the final two games of the series against the Toronto raptors. Goran Dragic and Duncan Robinson will be where Boston looks to make their attacks by exploiting their weak defensive ability. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will be the main danger men for the Celtics. The Celtics are -1.5 against the spread at (-109). The Celtics are (-120) to win the game with no spread.
The over-under for the game is 209.5 points. The over is at (-111) while the under is at (-108). Miami Heat is (-111) to win against the spread of +1.5. The Heat is also (+100) to take game one with no line. Boston is the favorites to win the series at (-135) while the Heat are (+115) here at Canplay.
Denver Nuggets @ Los Angeles Clippers, Tuesday 15h September, 8.05 p.m.
The Denver Nuggets came back from 3-1 down in the first-round series against the Utah Jazz. Nikola Jokic caused some serious problems for the Clippers defense in game 6. The Clippers were winning 3-1 in the series and failed to close it out in the last two games even with strong half time leads.
The Nuggets came back from a 16-point deficit at half time to grab a 13-point win by the end of the game. Jamal Murray played good basketball in the last two games and the Nuggets will want to keep their momentum going to face off against the Lakers in the Western Conference Final. At the start of the series, the Clippers looked like a certainty to win the series after starting so well. The Clippers have yet to make a Conference final in their history as a Franchise.
The Denver Nuggets are the underdogs for this one at (+255) with no line and (-114) against the spread of +7.5. Whereas the LA Clippers are (-330) with no line and (-106) against the spread of -7.5. The Clippers looked like they had the best team in this series, but the Nuggets have shown resilience when down. Back your preferred choice here at Canplay.
This is the 13th game for the Clippers and 14th for the Nuggets. Either way that is more games than the Lakers who have almost a week to rest. No matter which team makes it to the conference finals expect them to be fatigued taking on LeBron.
