Los Angeles at Boston

It could be the 80s again as the Celtics and the Lakers square at the Garden for the NBA Championship. After this one is over, these two teams will have combined for half of the 62 NBA Championships. The Celtics earned the homecourt advantage thanks to 66 wins in the regular season. And, that could be all the difference in this series. That advantage is a huge reason why they are even here. The Celtics have now gone 16-1 in their last 17 played at the Garden. Their road struggles have led the odds-makers to conclude that the Lakers are the better team. We are not sure if we agree with that, especially playing in Boston. Yes, the Lakers have the best player in the league. But, Boston has the better defense and a better balance across players. If one player struggles (i.e. Ray Allen), this team can still win because the talent is spread. Perkins and Garnett can slow down the finesse Gasol. Who is going to stop the three-headed monster? There are three players on this team that can beat you while the Lakers essentially have one. The Black Mamba can win games by himself but if he happens to be off (it does happen), the Lakers will not win. The Celtics give up 89.7 ppg while the Lakers give up 101 per game. Didn't someone once say that Defense Wins Championships? On the road the Lakers give up 101.4 while Boston allows 86.9 at home. Boston has only played three games all season at home including the playoffs where they were favored by 4 or less! They won all three of those games. The only meeting at the Garden vs the Lakers had the Celtics an 8-point favorite. Has Boston slipped that far? No. It's just that everyone is picking the "inevitable" Lakers to win this series. It's as if the press has already annointed Kobe the second-coming of Jordan and the Lakers as NBA Champs. So, all of a sudden this game is 5.5 points closer than that first one. We're not buying it. We see the value in this one on the Celtics. The Lakers, since the first round of the playoffs are just 2-3 on the road, and have been outscored by 27 points. The Spurs built a 20-point lead on them in the Lakers' house. Yes, the Lakers won that game, but it tell us that LA is not as inevitable, or as invulnerable, as the talking heads on ESPN would have you believe. This Celtics team is better than any team the Lakers have faced thus far. While it seems strange to call the top-seeded team with the best record in the NBA, and the best defense in the leauge, underrated, we feel Boston is not getting enough respect. The prognosticators said Detroit would despense of them. It didn't happen. Now everyone is picking the Lakers. We like the Celtics to win this game and cover this spread. Kobe and Company's vaunted offense was held to 93 and a season-low 84 points vs a defensive minded San Antonio team on the road last series. This Celtics team is all about defense as 12 of their 20 playoff games have seen the opponent held to the 80s. In games played here in Boston, eight of the 11 games saw the opponent score under 90 points! The Celtics have played 40-14 to the UNDER when facing an opponent off of scoring 100+ points in their last game. We like the Celtics and the UNDER in game one.