Lakers Spread Gets Wider: Up to -7
The Phoenix Suns were now a pretty big underdog as the Lakers spread extended to 7 points at SBG Global heading into Wednesday afternoon. Even at -7, the Lakers were getting over 80 percent of the betting action.
In Game One of their Western Conference Finals series, the Suns suffered their largest blowout loss in four months.
"They're not going to start out with a 30-point lead," said Channing Frye of the Suns. "It's over, and we're going to be even again, so hopefully we'll do a better job."
Don't tell that to those sports bettors who think otherwise.
The gamblers were on the right side of the Eastern Conference finals last night where the Boston Celtics not only covered a +7 ½ spread, they beat the home favorite Orlando Magic outright.
Building on the success they had in the series opener, the Celtics were once again effective in the open-court on Tuesday, outscoring the Magic 17-11 in transition.
One reason for the heavily shaded line: Orlando had not lost two consecutive games the entire regular season of 2009/2010.
After being hampered by injuries for much of the season, often showing their age, the Celtics are now just two wins away from their second finals appearance in three seasons.
"I think we are becoming the team that started the season," Rivers said. "The team that started the season was pretty good.
The Celtics would pay out $50 for every $10 bet should they go on to win the 2010 NBA Championship.
The Lakers would pay just better than even odds. Their game against the Suns goes off this evening (May 19) at 9 pm EST on TNT.
Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
