Free Bet for Celtics vs Cavs May 3rd

On Saturday the Cleveland Cavaliers came away with a 101-93 victory that covered the 7.5 point spread that was the number at most sportsbooks. Through three quarters of play that cover seemed highly unlikely, however, the Cavs closed out the Celtics with a strong finish at home, which will likely skew the spread and the public to believe that a repeat performance will be in the cards on Monday night when they face up for a game 2 in this NBA playoff contest.

Raijon Rondo and the Celtics owned the first-quarter with heavy dribble penetration and inside scoring that allowed Boston to create a significant early lead. The Kentucky point guard seemed virtually unstoppable in setting up easy points and assists for Garnet and Glenn Davis inside. The result was a quarter that saw Rondo finish with an accumulation of nine points and four assists. For Cleveland, the Lebron James injury scare seem to have the star favoring his right arm, as we saw him slam home his first dunk gingerly with two hands. The match of Shaquille O'Neal against Kendrick Perkins favored Shaq early as Perkins left the game with a busted lip that required stitches.

After letting Rondo run up another 10 points and four assists in the second to capture a double-digit lead by the end of the quarter, Dolante West began to heat up off of the Cavs bench while Lebron James continued his tentative play.

The start of the third quarter saw significant adjustments made on defense for the Cavaliers. A quicker Anthony Parker was used to defend Rondo in an attempt to slow down the fast-break opportunities of Boston. The move proved to be successful for the Cavs, who began to defensively shut down scoring opportunities, while at the same time producing an explosive flurry of points that came from Mo Williams, both inside and from three point range. Noticing the change in momentum, Ray Allen tried to heat up from the perimeter, but the Celtics were unable to hold off the strong run of the Cavs, and ended up being outscored 22-15. The run effectively got the game on equal terms, and from there Cleveland was able to use consistent play in a raucous home environment to spur themselves on to the win in the fourth-quarter.

One has to imagine that the Celtics knew the position that they were in, having produced and squandered a lead that they were in full control of at the start of the third quarter. A veteran team who last year was able to give the Cavs fits, knows the personnel and personality of this Cleveland squad has improved drastically from previous years. If anyone knew that there was urgency in this first game, given the way that it played out after two quarters, it would be the Boston Celtics. Poor defensive effort in the second half coupled with a lack of scoring from their closers during the clutch moments, should leave Boston with an uneasy feeling in their stomachs. This is not to say that the Celtics didn't expect tough competition from the number one seed in the East, but surely they can't be pleased with their play, and one would do well to expect increased urgency and consistent play from their top performers when game 2 goes down on Monday.

Expect previous game overreaction to result in a point spread favoring the Celtics, and use a free bet to back the Celtics at betsfreebets.com.

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