Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Sports Betting:

Vegas Play of the Day: Celtics at Cavaliers

Lebron James vs Celtics

Elise Amendola / AP FILE

Cavaliers forward LeBron James drives against the Celtics during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, Friday, May 19, 2017, in Boston.

We’ve entered the third season of the annual South Point-lined Play of the Day competition, effective July 1.

Starting bankrolls have reset to $10,000, with the maximum bet being to win $1,000 and the minimum wager $300. Ray Brewer won the 2015-2016 season, after Taylor Bern prevailed in 2014-2015. Bern stepped away in the middle of the 2016-2017 season with a 16-12 record and $13,317 bankroll, with Mike Grimala taking his place.

Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers, UNDER 215 : $550 to win $500

This series was a joke of a conference finals, and now that it’s been announced Celtics’ star Isaiah Thomas will miss the rest of the postseason I’m not sure what to call it.

The Cavaliers have done whatever they wanted thus far, and there’s no reason to believe that will change as they head back to Cleveland for games three and four. The line is a sky-high 16.5 points and while I think the Cavaliers handle the Celtics, I’m not a fan of laying that many points this far into the postseason.

The total is sitting at 215 -- four points lower than the closing totals in games one and two -- and I think it should be even lower than that. The Celtics’ defense has been non-existent in the first two contests, allowing 117 in game one and a record-breaking 130 points in game two, but tonight without Thomas they should try to slow the game down rather than try to play at Cleveland’s breakneck pace.

The Celtics still might not be able to hit open shots (it seems like they haven’t hit one yet) but I think they ratchet up the defensive intensity without their star, and hold the game under the total of 215.

Granger (16-19-1, $9,167), Grimala (9-13, $8,753), Brewer (32-32-1, $7,925), Keefer (43-39-3, $7,180)

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