2010 NBA Playoffs: Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics Prediction: April 17th 2010

Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics
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Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals 2010 NBA playoffs betting affair between the #5 Miami Heat (47-35, 42-39-1 ATS) and the #4 Boston Celtics (50-32, 33-47-2 ATS) will take place on Saturday night at Bank North Garden in Beantown. The C’s had a disappointing season, only winning 50 games and finishing just 27-27 in their L/54 overall. Miami has played very well down the stretch, moving from a borderline postseason team to one that is comfortably in the tournament at #5.

The key for the Heat for the last few seasons has been G Dwyane Wade. NBA betting fanatics would be nowhere without Wade in the red and black, but if things don’t go well in this series, “Flash” will most likely test the free agent waters and see if he can find greener pastures in other cities in the NBA. He averaged 26.6 points per game this year, easily tops on the team. If someone else is going to make a name for themselves in this game, why not F Michael Beasley? The second year star out of Kansas State averaged just less than 15 points per game this year, and he should have a favorable matchup against a significantly slower F Kevin Garnett late in his career.

Veteran leadership is all over the Boston roster right now, and that is going to be the fact that HC Doc Rivers leans on for this entire postseason. F Paul Pierce, who shot better than 40 percent from three point land this year, leads the way once again for the C’s. However, he is the only player on this team who can say that they averaged more than 16.3 points per game, which is disappointing considering the fact that guys like G Ray Allen and F Kevin Garnett are used to scoring 20+ points on a nightly basis.

The favorite is 8-2 ATS in the L/10 basketball betting battles of these clubs. Boston was favored in all but one of those ten tries. The C’s swept the season series with the Heat, winning 107-102 at home on February 3rd and 112-106 and 92-85 earlier in the year in Miami.

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