NBA, NHL Betting Update From Sportsbook.com
NBA: Critical Game 5 in Cleveland-Boston series
While three of the four second round NBA playoff series concluded in sweeps, the remaining series has been intensely competitive, with the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers even after four games. Tonight's Game 5 from Cleveland is critical, and while oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com have the host Cavs as 7.5-point favorites, LeBron & Co. have some definite issues to address if they hope to take the lead in the series.
Even with Rondo's up-and-down Game 3 performance, he's averaging 21.8 points, 13 assists and 8.3 rebounds per contest and is the biggest reason Boston and Cleveland is now best two of three.
NBA playoff basketball is about making adjustments from game to game. Cleveland was more aggressive from the start in Game 3, as LeBron James and his teammates bottled up Boston from the opening tap and free-wheeled around the TD Garden going wherever they wanted in winning 124-95 as one-point underdogs.
Coach Doc Rivers didn't like his offense or defense in that contest and made two modifications for Sunday's game. He wanted every defender to create more on-ball pressure, thus limiting Cleveland's ability to drive or pass wherever they desired to go and got more hands up on shots and limited the Cavs to 40.3 percent shooting after draining 59.5 percent two days prior.
Though not publicly stated since series opener, Rivers evidently gave Rondo the green light to take the ball and go rim-running whether he had teammates or not. Rivers had said after Game 1 he wanted other Celtics players to run with Rondo in transition. They did for the most part in second contest in Cleveland, but went back to old ways in being drubbed in next tilt.
Rondo appeared to have free reign Sunday afternoon and carved up the Cavaliers defense for 29 points, 13 assists and a Bill Russell-like 18 rebounds. Boston won by 10 as 1.5-point home dogs and is 5-1 ATS after winning as a home underdog.
LeBron James has surveyed the situation and is tired of watching his guards get cleaved up by Rondo. "I think it starts with Rondo. He's kind of the engine that really gets them going," James said. "He does everything for them. His performance was unbelievable.
"Rondo was definitely the difference maker."
James has increasingly taken pride in his ability to stop opposing players and was spotted by more than one courtside observer in Boston letting Coach Mike Brown know he wants to get into a defensive stance against Rondo.
"I would love to,'' James said after the game. "It's something we maybe should explore because Rondo is definitely dominating this series at the point guard position. For me, I don't have a problem taking Rondo or guarding Rondo throughout the course of the game. If the coaching staff or the guys want me to do it, I will."
This is not unprecedented for the Cavs as King James guarded Derrick Rose in last series and limited what the Bulls guard could do taking turns with teammates.
Cleveland is 13-4 ATS off an upset loss as a road favorite and is a 7.5-point pick at Sportsbook.com with total of 193.5. This strategy might come out of necessity for Coach Brown whose team is 16-6 ATS as a home favorite of 6.5 to 9 points. Since the guards are not handling the lightning quick Boston guard and are once again ineffective as scorers, just like in Orlando series in last season's playoffs, Brown might be forced to employ this method.
The green-clad C's are 11-4-1 ATS in postseason underdog role and know the better defense they play, that leaves more chances for the former Kentucky guard to run free in the open court.
NHL: Vancouver favored to even series with Chicago
The Vancouver Canucks survived their first elimination game in their series with Chicago on Sunday, winning 4-1 in the Windy City to close the series game to three games to two. On Tuesday night, the Canucks hope to force a Game 7 by winning on their home ice. Oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com like their chances, installing the hosts as -130 favorites.
Motivation can come many different ways for the athlete. Usually it has to do with respect or the lack of it in many cases. Maybe that is what it took for Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo to get back on track, along with slowing down the game, contrary to the Canucks typical style.
Luongo was called the "second best goalie" in their series with Chicago by his own coach Alain Vigneault. With a strategy change and what seemed to be a more focused netminder, Vancouver staved off elimination with a convincing 4-1 road win in Chicago to force a Game 6.
Luongo stopped 29 of 30 Blackhawks shot attempts and his team slowed the pace of the game down, which proved to be more to their liking and frustrated Chicago who wanted to end the series. "Sometimes when all the chips are on the line, you tend to be a little more careful," said Luongo. "You don't want to make a huge mistake that costs you the game. Whatever it was, it worked for us tonight."
The Canucks return home where they are 11-1 in home games having lost two of their last three this season and might have learned a valuable lesson.
"The two games in Vancouver obviously our emotions in some situations got the best of us," coach Vigneault noted. "We needed to be more disciplined and we were."
Vancouver would be smart to play with same urgency and build early lead like they did in last outing, but this time get their fans behind them.
"The biggest thing was Vancouver having a little more urgency off the start tonight," Chicago's Jonathan Toews said after the game. "We gave them the opportunity to get up 3-0. Against any team in a do-or-die game, they're not going to let you come back and waltz through the offensive zone. They played smart and protected their lead well."
Vancouver is 14-2 in home games after playing a road affair and is a -130 money line favorite with total of 6 at Sportsbook.com. However, the Canucks have found virtually no success on home ice as seen with 1-9 record in the second round of the playoffs, which includes a pair of defeats in this series. They are 8-0 OVER at GM Place in this round of the postseason, but probably needs another lower scoring contest to force a seventh game.
Chicago will try to create more action around the net and is 28-13 playing their fourth game in a week. This contest will be on VERSUS and the CBC at 9:30 Eastern, with the Blackhawks 10-3 UNDER as visitors off a home loss by two goals or more.
