{"id":14491,"date":"2011-03-28T16:00:21","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T21:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=14491"},"modified":"2011-03-28T16:00:21","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T21:00:21","slug":"free-nba-picks-boston-celtics-at-indiana-pacers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/free-nba-picks-boston-celtics-at-indiana-pacers-14491\/","title":{"rendered":"Free NBA Picks: Boston Celtics At Indiana Pacers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston Celtics AT Indiana Pacers<\/strong>
\nMar 28, 2011 at 7 PM EST<\/strong>
\nOpening Line:\u00a0 Boston -3<\/strong>
\nCurrent Line:\u00a0 Boston -2<\/strong>
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 189<\/strong>
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 187.5<\/strong>
\nOpening Moneyline:\u00a0 Bos -145 \/ Ind +125<\/strong>
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 Bos -135 \/ Ind +115<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Boston clinched the Atlantic Divsion crown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At first glance the line on this one seems a bit close, and a bit odd, for two teams with such disparate records.\u00a0 The reason, of course, is that the Celtics played a nailbiter last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves and a veteran team like Boston has more trouble bouncing back and staying fresh in the second night of a back to back than a younger team might.\u00a0 Fortunately, for the Celtics, a victory tonight is hardly a necessity as they just clinched another Atlantic Division Title.<\/p>\n

The game for the Pacers, however, is of much more dire importance with regard to the Pacers’ chances of making the playoffs.\u00a0 They currently sit just one game ahead of the Charlotte Bobcats for the 8th and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, an honor that will match the victor up against the red hot Chicago Bulls, in all likelihood.\u00a0 Pacers All-Star Danny Granger understands the importance and pressing need for a victory and is unhappy with the way the Pacers have squandered games recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just gave away two games in the last two nights to two teams that wanted it more, and just let other teams right back in the hunt,\u201d said Granger. \u201cWe have to step it up and if we don\u2019t we will be out of the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some betting trends:<\/p>\n

The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Boston’s last 5 and they are 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games.\u00a0 The total has also gone UNDER in all 5 of the Celtics’ last 5 road games and they are 6-3 SU in their last 9 on the road.\u00a0 Boston is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 on the road and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of their last 5 against the Pacers.\u00a0 Boston is 5-0 SU in their last 5 games against Indy and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of their last 6 games on the road against the Pacers.\u00a0 Boston is 4-2 SU in their last 6 road games against the Pacers.<\/p>\n

Indiana is 5-10 SU in their last 15 games and they are 3-6 ATS In their last 9 at home.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER in 4 of the Pacers’ last 6 games at home and they are 0-5 SU in their last 5 against Boston.\u00a0 Indiana is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against the Celtics and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of the last 5 meetings with the Celtics.\u00a0 The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Indiana’s last 6 games at home against the Celtics and Indiana is 2-4 SU in their last 6 games at home against Boston.\u00a0 Indiana is 3-9 ATS in their last 12 at home against the Celtics.<\/p>\n

Key Matchups:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Danny Granger vs. Paul Pierce<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pierce has scored 20, 18, and 21 in his three meetings with the Pacers and Danny Granger this year, which more or less falls in line with his season average.\u00a0 Granger has scored 15, 15, and 19 against the Celtics, which is well below his season average of 20.6.\u00a0 Both players are fair defenders, but are also the de facto number one options of their respective teams so they will wear each other down defensively, undoubtedly contributing to their pedestrian totals against one another.\u00a0 Granger is known and respected as a very good team defender, but is not as strong in one on one coverage and he will have to avoid picking up “silly” fouls against Pierce, though Granger is usually adept at doing so (4 fouls last game, 2 and 2 in the two before).\u00a0 Granger’s numbers are down, but it is entirely due to a better supporting cast.\u00a0 He isn’t being forced to take as many shots, or as many bad shots late in the clock, as in years’ past.\u00a0 Expect this matchup to be more or less a wash.<\/p>\n

Darren Collison vs. Rajon Rondo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speed and lightning in a bottle for both these players is about right.\u00a0 Collison and Rondo both rank among the quickest players in the league and will be darting around one another all night for dribble penetration.\u00a0 Though Collison has been something of a mild disappointment for the Pacers, he is still only in his second season as a pro and will undoubedly form a central part of the nucleus of the Pacers moving forward. He has played pitifully in the last three games, however, totalling only 20 pionts and 13 assists in the three games combined.<\/p>\n

Rondo is leading the league in assists and has come into his own as an All-Star and now is probably the Celtics’ best player, all around.<\/p>\n

Tonight’s game could easily be won by the Pacers if they come out focused and prepared.\u00a0 Boston is going to be tired and will probably rely more heavily on their reserves.\u00a0 Moreover, given the nature of this game with respect to the teams’ respective standings and positions, Indiana has a lot more to lose and gain than Boston in this game and will probably play harder than the Celtics.\u00a0 Whether or not that is enough to overcome their inferior talent remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boston Celtics AT Indiana Pacers Mar 28, 2011 at 7 PM EST Opening Line:\u00a0 Boston -3 Current Line:\u00a0 Boston -2 Opening Total:\u00a0 189 Current Total:\u00a0 187.5 Opening Moneyline:\u00a0 Bos -145 \/ Ind +125 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 Bos -135 \/ Ind +115 At first glance the line on this one seems a bit close, and a bit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":4388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[120,566,1325,565,846,197],"class_list":["post-14491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-boston-celtics","tag-danny-granger","tag-darren-collison","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-paul-pierce","tag-rajon-rondo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14493,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14491\/revisions\/14493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}