Celtics vs. Cavaliers Game 4 Betting Preview
A career game from Marcus Smart gave the Boston Celtics new life in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. They'll look for another big upset win Tuesday night when they meet up with the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4.
Boston entered Game 3 left for dead after losing the first two games of the series and losing team MVP Isaiah Thomas for the rest of the playoffs due to a hip injury.
The Celtics were a massive 16-point road underdog in Game 3. It looked like Cleveland was going to roll to an easy victory as they went into halftime with a 16-point lead. Cleveland led by as much as 21 points in the game, but fell apart in the second half. Boston went on a run and completed the comeback in a 111-108 victory.
Smart, subbing in for the injured Thomas, went off in the game with a career-high 27 points to go with five rebounds and seven assists. Avery Bradley chipped in with 20 points and in total six Celtics scored in double figures in the upset.
Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 29 points and seven assists, and Kevin Love added 28 points and 10 rebounds. It was a frustrating night for LeBron James, who had his worst game of the playoffs so far. James was limited to 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting and was held without a point in the fourth quarter.
The loss in Game 3 snapped Cleveland's 10-game straight-up winning streak. It was also their first loss against the spread in eight games, as they were 6-0-2 ATS. Cleveland also had a four-game home SU winning streak snapped, but the ATS loss wasn't out of the ordinary. With the ATS loss the Cavaliers dropped to 2-5 ATS in their last seven games at home and 5-11 ATS in their last 16.
Boston snapped a short three-game road losing streak with the Game 3 win. They also improved to a solid 5-2 ATS in their last seven games on the road.
In the last four matchups between the Cavaliers and Celtics the visiting team has won every game both SU and ATS. However, Cleveland has still dominated the series with a 6-2 record SU and 4-3-1 record ATS in their last eight games versus Boston.
The Celtics are still massive +30000 longshots on the odds to win the NBA championship at the Bovada Sportsbook. The Cavaliers are at +190.