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The Celtics will host Washington in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with the two teams currently being tied at 2-2, each one winning their two games at home.
The Celtics (1st seed) started the series very well with a blowout win in Boston, followed by another victory at home, in overtime, making it 6 consecutive wins in the playoffs. However, they have been useless in the next two games in Washington, losing by 27 and 19 points respectively and conceding all momentum to the Wizards.
Washington (4th seed) was expected to be much better at home than they were in Boston earlier in the series, but even so their two victories in Games 3 and 4 were impressive. The Wizards utterly dominated the Celtics and John Wall continued his brilliance in this series, but going back to Boston will raise a different proposition, as Washington has been the team with the highest discrepancy between home form and away form this season.
Bet on Celtics vs. Wizards and claim your 100% (100 Eur) free bet at Ohmbet now!Team news: Both Washington and Boston are expected to be at full strength in Game 5.
Washington looked great in the last two games, but that does not mean much before Game 5. Washington is simply a different, much better team at home than on the road, where they often look lost and get little to no production from their role players. Their level on the road has not been playoff worthy for most of this season and that was also obvious in the previous round against the mediocre Atlanta, when Washington got blown out in the first two games away (though they did win Game 6 in Atlanta due to a marvelous John Wall performance).
Boston themselves are much better at home than away and mostly for the same reason as Washington – their bench players always struggle on the road, but are able to hit shots consistently at home. There are also more calls going Boston’s way in Boston, which is huge for them considering their star player is barely 5 foot 9 and needs to get to the line to be fully effective.
It`s really no surprise that the two teams met 8 times this season (playoffs + regular season) and nobody was able to win on the road so far.
This was always to be a series in which home court advantage would be the dominating factor and the changes in perception just because somebody won (impressively or not) at home are wrong. Many were saying that the series was over after Boston took a 2-0 lead, now the same people are confidently backing the Wizards to win it because they seemed so much better in Washington.
Odds on Boston to win this match are higher than in both their previous home games, due to the fact that they got embarrassed in Washington in Games 3 and 4. However, those results hold little to no relevance in a series which is dominated so much by home court advantage and I feel there`s a great opportunity to bet on Boston. The line is around -4 points and that`s rather low, I reckon it should be at least at -5.5.
Look for Boston’s role players to produce and also for Isaiah Thomas to get to the line (he had ZERO free throw attempts in Game 4 in Washington). My tip is Boston to cover the 4 point handicap. Prediction: Boston Celtics – Washington Wizards 111 – 97.
Pick: Celtics -4
Odds: 1.93 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.44
Event date: 10 May
