NBA playoffs: Celtics at Bulls, Game 3 (series tied 1-1)
Easily the most entertaining series in the NBA playoffs thus far has been between the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls, with the seventh-seeded Bulls giving Boston all it could handle in splitting with the NBA champs in Beantown.
Now the series heads back to Chicago for two games, and the Bulls were one of the league’s best home teams in the final month or so and finished with seven wins in their final eight home games. Thus Chicago has opened as a 3-point favorite on WagerWeb.com, with an over/under of 201.
Of course, Boston will be without forward Leon Powe for the rest of the playoffs. As written on WagerWeb.com yesterday, Powe, who backed up Glen Davis at the No. 4 spot, tore his ACL in Monday’s game and faces a long rehab. His stats weren’t gaudy, but he was one of the few capable big bodies left on the roster. It looked like Boston would be down to just Kendrick Perkins, Davis and seldom-used Mikki Moore.
But the Celtics will be getting Brian Scalabrine back tonight. The forward has been sidelined for two months due to post-concussion syndrome. After going through a full practice without any incidents on Wednesday, he will be available off the bench in Game 3.
“He looked good,’’ said Coach Doc Rivers. “Actually, he played great. It’s funny. Our bigs were not used to guarding him because he’s out standing by the (3-point line) and he made a lot of them.”
The Bulls are expecting a big game from Paul Pierce tonight, as the reigning NBA Finals MVP has totaled just 41 points (he’s only Boston’s third-leading scorer in the series) on 40 percent shooting so far. Even Rivers has talked about Pierce’s tentativeness, which surprising given he’s matching up against John Salmons, who is nursing a strained left groin.
“My mentality is always that this is an All-Star player, a Finals MVP player, who is one of those guys who can go off for 40 at any time,” Salmons said. “We have to continue to keep a hand in his face, try to make him take as many contested shots as possible. For the most part, we’ve been doing that.”
Pierce may have to play some minutes at power forward tonight
“If we get into foul trouble, that’s got to be an option,’’ he said.
A nice side thing to watch tonight will be who wins the battle of former UConn players this time. The Bulls’ Ben Gordon had 42 points in Game 2 but was upstaged by Ray Allen, who had 28 second-half points and the game-winning 3-pointer.
WagerWeb.com Trends
* Over is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.
* Under is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings in Chicago.
* Celtics are 7-3 ATS in the last 10 meetings.
* Favorite is 9-4 ATS in the last 13 meetings
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