The Brooklyn Nets can advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a home win as a heavy favorite over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 on Tuesday night. Which way to lean at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks?
Tuesday, June 1, 2021 – 07:30 PM EDT at Barclays Center
The first NBA game of the month of June is from the Eastern Conference’s first round as the No. 2 seed Brooklyn Nets can finish off the No. 7 Boston Celtics in Game 5 on Tuesday. TNT has the telecast.
Presuming Brooklyn wins here, and it will, the Nets would have a date with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the third-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in a spectacular conference semifinal matchup. The lookahead series line at BMR’s top-rated books for Nets-Bucks has Brooklyn priced -180 and Milwaukee +150.
The Nets remain -105 favorites on the Bovada NBA futures odds to win the East and +200 favorites to win their first NBA title. Kevin Durant is an early +350 favorite to win NBA Finals MVP. KD won that award twice with the Golden State Warriors. Bovada also has a prop on which team houses the NBA champion and the Atlantic is a +120 favorite. It should be favored because you get the Nets and 76ers and they might be on a crash course in the East Finals.
If Boston is knocked out Tuesday, it could be an interesting offseason for the team. Coach Brad Stevens is surely safe; if he thought he wasn’t, he would have taken the $70 million that Indiana University reportedly offered him. Of course, Stevens is from the Hoosier State.
The Celtics’ Big 3 of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker are all under contract for at least one more season. Walker is really starting to show his age but is untradable with $36 million owed to him next season and $37.6 million in 2022-23. Tatum and Brown aren’t going anywhere. The only major Boston player set for free agency is trade acquisition Evan Fournier.
Walker got a late start to this season due to offseason knee surgery, suffered a bruised knee in Game 3 and missed Sunday’s 141-126 loss. Hard to know if he plays here; he’s doubtful. Starting center Robert Williams, who makes a huge difference defensively with his shot-blocking and rebounding, also missed Game 4; he was in a walking boot after tweaking his ankle in Game 3 and is also doubtful. I’m less confident Williams plays Tuesday but obviously sound like neither will.
Stevens started Romeo Langford for Walker in Game 4 and Tristan Thompson for Williams. They combined for just 14 points and a minus-28 rating. Frankly, no one did much except Tatum with 40 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He’s averaging 30.3 points in the series and also was 17-for-17 from the free throw line in Game 4. Those makes set a career high for the regular season or the postseason. Boston was a stellar 38-for-42 from the charity stripe.
Unfortunately, a Boston fan threw a water bottle at Nets star Kyrie Irving as Irving was walking to the locker room. That stupid a**hole has been charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. Good. Fans have been acting stupid all over the place in these playoffs.
Brooklyn might be the most potent offensive team in NBA history with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, and that was totally on display in Game 4. The 141 points were a franchise playoff record, and the Big 3 combined for 104 of them. The Nets shot a stupid 57.8 percent from the field, 59.3 percent from three-point range and 96.7 percent from the free-throw line. No team is beating Brooklyn when it shoots like that. The Nets are now 8-1 ATS on NBA picks in their past nine.
Durant finished with 42 points to become the first player in franchise history to score at least 35 points in consecutive playoff games. Irving had 39 points and 11 rebounds as the Nets became the second team in NBA history to have multiple 35-point scorers in consecutive games. Harden finished with 23 points and a career playoff-high 18 assists.
During the regular season, the Nets set an NBA record for season offensive rating at 117.3 points per 100 possessions. In Game 4, their rating was a ridiculous 143.9 points.
Nic Claxton played only eight minutes on Sunday and was scoreless but also plus-14 with four blocks. He’s getting more run with Jeff Green out injured; Green won’t play here, either. Claxton was part of a 23-10 run that spanned the first and second quarters and changed the game.
“That’s what he does. He’s active, he protects our rim, he rebounds the ball. Offensively, he sets screens and finishes around the basket, so he did exactly his job only playing eight minutes, but he’s always ready,” said Harden on Claxton’s performance in Game 4.
Again, I have no doubt that Brooklyn wins Game 5. It would be nice to know if Walker and/or Williams are 100 percent out for Boston. I have to take all those points regardless, however. The Celtics are 6-1 ATS on the NBA odds in their past seven as road dogs.
NBA pick: Celtics at +12.5 (-110) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)