NBA Odds: Celtics Slim Favorites Vs. Cavs In Game 2 Of East Finals
The Boston Celtics on Tuesday will be looking to become the first team to claim a 2-0 playoff series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers since the 2016 NBA Finals when they meet in Game 2 as slim 1-point favorites on the NBA odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Boston opened the series in impressive fashion Sunday afternoon, romping to a 108-83 win over Cleveland as a 1-point home underdog and extending the club’s straight-up win streak on home court to nine games going into Tuesday night’s Cavaliers vs. Celtics betting matchup at TD Garden.
Sunday’s victory also marked the Celtics’ fourth outright win as betting underdogs in their past six overall games and bolstered their strong record at the sportsbooks, where they have covered in 11 of their past 14 overall contests.
The Celtics’ crushing Game 1 win over LeBron James and the Cavs also has provided them with a limited lift on the NBA futures. Boston has jumped to a much improved +100 on the NBA playoff series prices after lagging as a distant +230 underdog prior to Game 1, and has vaulted to +1200 from +2000 on the odds to win the NBA championship.
For Cleveland, Sunday’s loss marked a dramatic reversal in fortune after the club dismantled the top-seeded Toronto Raptors in a second-round series clash. The Cavs easily disposed of Toronto in a four-game sweep, capped by a 128-93 victory as 5-point home favorites in the series clincher, which also set a record for the most lopsided defeat of a playoff top seed in NBA history.
While the Cavs opened their clash with Toronto with a pair of road victories, they have otherwise produced mixed results in recent dates away from Quicken Loans Arena, tallying back-to-back straight-up wins just once during a 6-7 SU run, and are a meager 2-4 SU and against the spread in their past six road outings as underdogs of two or fewer points.
However, the Cavs have consistently produced in meetings with Boston in recent years, going 17-7 SU in 24 overall games. Cleveland also has rolled to victory regularly in playoff dates at TD Garden, winning five straight prior to Sunday by an average margin of 21.2 points per game.
Those historical trends have worked in the Cavs’ favor on the NBA futures. Cleveland remains the favorite on the NBA series prices at -120 and continues to sit well ahead of Boston as a +800 bet to claim its second NBA title in three years.
