The Celtics pulled off a colossal upset in Game 3 and led at halftime last time out, but they will be underdogs again in this one despite playing at home. Between the way Cleveland has been rolling in the playoffs and the absence of Boston’s star guard, Isaiah Thomas, the Cavs will be expected to win this one and clinch their spot in the NBA Finals.
This war on the floor will go down Thursday, May 25, 2017, at 8:30 p.m. ET at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The game will be televised live on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Thursday schedule.
NBA Odds
The Cavaliers were favored by 15 points in Game 4 and despite being down by double digits at the half, almost covered. However, for the second straight road game, Boston covered the spread in the 112-99 loss.
The spread for Game 5 has been listed at -9 in favor of Cleveland, which isn’t expected to have too much trouble wrapping up the series. The scoring total is set at 214.5 points.
The Cavaliers are 62-32 straight up and 42-48-4 against the spread this season. Cleveland has gone 21-24-2 against the spread on the road on the year, while the Cavs are 37-38-4 against the spread as the favorite.
The Celtics are 62-37 straight up and 52-46-1 against the spread. Boston has only covered in 22 of 50 home games this season, failing to do so in the first two games of this series. The Celtics are 14-13-1 against the spread as the underdog on the year.
Last Time Out
The Celtics allowed their fans to dream of a competitive series when they took a 57-47 lead into the half, but the Cavaliers scored 40 points in the third quarter to retake the lead. While Boston hung around into the fourth, the Cavaliers made enough big shots down the stretch to claim the win.
Irving was fantastic, scoring 42 points on 15-of-22 from the field while hitting four three-pointers. LeBron James had a poor performance in Game 3 but bounced back in a big way, scoring 34 points on 15-of-27 from the field. James had four fouls at halftime as Cleveland fell behind but he did a great job of avoiding fouls while still remain aggressive in the second half.
Avery Bradley had 19 points and Jae Crowder had 18 for Boston, but the Celtics couldn’t match Cleveland shot for shot when the Cavs got hot in the third quarter. Boston did a nice job defensively in the first half but couldn’t contain Irving late.
Injury Report
Irving twisted his ankle in the third quarter while Kevin Love seemed to have a quick bout of back spasms. Both stayed in the game and looked good down the stretch, so it is likely nothing to worry about for either player.
However, ankle injuries can get worse the next day as they balloon, so Irving’s status must be monitored closely. Even if he isn’t at 100 percent, the Cavaliers would still be favored to win, but if the game comes in near the spread, Irving’s presence could mean the difference between Cleveland covering or Boston doing so.
Love has been hot from three-point range in this series, and when he is hitting from downtown it makes the Cleveland offense to hard to defend. The Cavaliers have mostly avoided the injury bug recently, and while Irving and Love delivered scares, both seem to be fine.
Free NBA ATS Pick
The Celtics aren’t going to go down easily, as they are going home and playing in front of a home crowd which will be rooting them on. Boston’s defense has been solid at times the past two games, and Cleveland really rode Irving’s breakout performance to the win.
If the Cavaliers don’t shoot the lights out, expect this one to come down to the wire. The Celtics may be outmanned, but they are playing good team ball and are well coached. Choose Cleveland to win and move on to meet the Warriors in the NBA Finals, but Boston will cover.
NBA Odds: Cavaliers 109, Celtics 103
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