{"id":27659,"date":"2013-02-07T12:05:47","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T17:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=27659"},"modified":"2013-02-07T12:05:47","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T17:05:47","slug":"nba-picks-los-angeles-lakers-vs-boston-celtics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nba-picks-los-angeles-lakers-vs-boston-celtics-27659\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Picks: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Celtics
The Boston Celtics have won all five of their games since PG Rajon Rondo was lost for the season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Los Angeles Lakers at Boston Celtics
\nThursday, 2\/7\/13, 8:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 TNT
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Boston -2.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Boston -1
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 196
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 194.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

Los Angeles has won six of its last seven games, including a 92-83 victory over the Brooklyn Nets as four-point road underdogs last time out, while going UNDER the total for the third time in four contests.\u00a0 The Lakers will be playing without the services of Pau Gasol (foot), while center Dwight Howard (shoulder) will likely miss his fourth straight game.\u00a0 \u201cIf Pau can\u2019t go and Dwight can\u2019t go, we have to figure some things out,\u201d stated Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.\u00a0 Los Angeles is 0-3 ATS as road underdogs of three points or less the last two-plus seasons, with the UNDER going 3-0 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Lakers are 8-16 away from the Staples Center this year, which is important to consider when looking over the pro basketball odds page.\u00a0 Los Angeles is 6-4 against Boston in its last 10 regular-season meetings, while it has won four consecutive games at the TD Garden.\u00a0 Offensively, the team ranks sixth in the league in averaging 102.1 points per game, while its defense is surrendering 100.5.<\/p>\n

Boston has won and covered the spread in its last five games, as it comes off a 99-95 victory over the Toronto Raptors as 3.5-point road underdogs Wednesday night, while going OVER the total for the third time in that stretch.\u00a0 The Celtics were led offensively by center Kevin Garnett last night, as he finished with a season-high 27 points.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s been phenomenal,\u201d commented Celtics forward Paul Pierce.\u00a0 Boston is 4-5 ATS when playing on back-to-back days, which can\u2019t be ignored when making your NBA picks against the spread.<\/p>\n

The Celtics are 17-9 at home this season, including a 9-3 mark versus Western Conference opponents.\u00a0 Boston dropped both head-to-head meetings a year ago in this series, including an 88-87 setback as 3.5-point home favorites on Feb. 9.\u00a0 Defensively, the team ranks fourth in the NBA in allowing just 92.6 points per game since February, while limiting foes to a league-worst 42.2 percent shooting from the field in that period of time.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Celtics due to their 4-0 ATS run at home, while the Lakers are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games versus Atlantic Division foes.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NBA handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Lakers at Boston Celtics Thursday, 2\/7\/13, 8:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 TNT Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Boston -2.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Boston -1 Opening Total:\u00a0 196 Current Total:\u00a0 194.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Los Angeles has won six of its last seven games, including a 92-83 victory over the Brooklyn Nets as four-point road underdogs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[120,833,3622,764,67,68,18,846,3917,3693],"class_list":["post-27659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-boston-celtics","tag-dwight-howard","tag-eastern-conference","tag-kevin-garnett","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-paul-pierce","tag-td-garden","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27659","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\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27660,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27659\/revisions\/27660"}],"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=27659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}