Game 2 of the NBA Finals is tonight and the pros at FiveStarPick.com have been working for two days analyzing stats and trends from Game 1.  This attention to detail is for one reason and one reason only…BRINGING HOME THE CASH!  Most Vegas books list the Lakers as 6-point home favorites with a total of 190.

In Game 1, our members got the UNDER 192.  Although it was a bit too close for our comfort, Kobe Bryant’s 3 with the clock expiring still kept us under the closing total of 192, albeit by 1 point.

Game 1’s outcome was determined in the paint, where the lakers took the Celtics to the woodshed. The Lakers out-rebounded the Celtics, 42-31, and they outscored the Celtics in the paint, 48-30, including 12 offensive rebounds.

All-Star forward Pau Gasol finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. His size and athleticism was evident against the Celtics’ Kevin Garnett, who had no answer for Gasol in Game 1.  Kobe Bryant put up 30 points, his 12th 30+ point game of this year’s playoffs. Ron Artest also did his job grinding out 15 points for the Lakers.

Ray Allen was plagued with foul trouble for most of Game 1. He played 27 minutes and finished with 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting. Allen was given the daunting task of guarding Kobe Bryant, so he didn’t have much time to rest on defense.  KG didn’t have his best performance in Game 1, but veteran Rasheed Wallace added 9 points and 4 boards in just 18 minutes. The rest of Boston’s bench only had seven points, which included just 3 points and 3 rebounds from Glen Davis. Point guard Rajon Rondo had a reasonable outing with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists in Game 1, but Rondo will have to step up his speed and back court domination if he want a chance to leave LA tied 1 game a piece.

The win over Boston in Game 1 helped the Lakers improve to a 6-3 record against the spread at home in the playoffs. The loss for the Celtics was their sixth of the playoffs, four of them being on the road.  The Celtics have yet to lose a playoff game and cover the spread, which is something to think about for Game 2.  These two clubs will travel back to Boston for Game 3, which is scheduled for Tuesday night.

Tonight’s tip is at 8:05 p.m. EDT on ABC.

Who covers the spread tonight?  It is not your job to analyze these stats and trends, it’s ours.  This is our life and our living.  Let FiveStarPick.com take away the guesswork in the NBA Playoffs and provide you with winning NBA Playoff Picks that beat the spread and get results.  If you’re skeptical, monitor our daily plays on our homepage and see if our talent for picking winners exceeds your expectations.  Or join for two days…it’s only $19.99.  Join our family today and start winning tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

The pros at FiveStarPick.com look to continue our NBA Playoff hot streak handicapping every game in the 2010 NBA Finals.  We’re confident that our members share our desire.  The NBA didn’t get LeBron-Kobe, but they did get the next best thing in Lakers-Celtics.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Lakers as -180 favorites (risk $180 to win $100) and the Celtics as +150 dogs (risk $100 to win $150).  For Game 1, most books list the Lakers as 5.5-point favorites with a total of 192.

Over the last 10 years, the team that hosted the first 2 games of the Finals has won the title 8 times. The only two clubs to break that trend were the 2004 Pistons and the 2006 Heat. The Lakers have been weak in their game openers in the Phil Jackson era.  In the Lakers last five Finals appearances dating back to 2000, Los Angeles is meager 3-8-1 Against The Spread.  In game openers, LA is just 2-4 Against The Spread. In Jackson’s ten titles with the Bulls and Lakers, his teams have never swept the Finals, but also have never played a Game 7.

Since the inception of 2-3-2 format in 1985, the home team has won the first two games 13 times.  The road team has won the first two only twice, with Phoenix back in 1993, and Houston in 1995.  Ten times the home team has split the first two games, but in seven of those instances the home team still won the series.

Back in 2008, the Celtics covered the spread in all six games of the Finals, including four games as an underdog. Boston is 12-5 Against The Spread this postseason, while the Lakers are just 9-7 Against The Spread, including a 5-4 Against The Spread mark as a favorite. Nine of the last 12 Finals series openers have finished ‘under’ the closing total.

Who covers the spread tonight?  It is not your job to analyze these stats and trends, it’s ours.  This is our life and our living.  Let FiveStarPick.com take away the guesswork in the NBA Playoffs and provide you with winning NBA Playoff Picks that beat the spread and get results.  If you’re skeptical, monitor our daily plays on our homepage and see if our talent for picking winners exceeds your expectations.  Or join for two days…it’s only $19.99.  Join our family today and start winning tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

Congratulations to all our members on another 2-0 against the spread night as we gave our members the Celtics +6.5 and the Suns -4. Tonight we are giving our members the spread winner of Jazz/Lakers and Hawks/Magic.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Lakers as 6-point home favorites with a total of 199.5.

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers managed to defend their home court in game 1 against the Utah Jazz, but it wasn’t easy.  Utah held the lead with minutes remaining before the Lakers came back and stole the show.

Kobe Bryant elevated his play with 11 points in the final 4 minutes of Game 1 to finish with a team high 31 points; even with a bum knee.

On the trend side, Phil Jackson is 45-0 for his career when he wins the first game of any series. 

Utah may get a jolt on defence Thursday as Andrei Kirilenko might return to the lineup.  However Kirilenko’s effectiveness could be suspect as he has almost missed two months with a left calf injury. The Jazz can steal game 2 if their defence can contain the Laker’s starting 5, however Utah has had trouble on the road all year going only 21-20 against the spread in the regular season as visitors. 

So what does all this mean?  Who will cover the spread tonight?  It is not your job to analyze these stats and trends, it’s ours.  This is our life and our living.  Let FiveStarPick.com take away the guesswork in the NBA Playoffs and provide you with winning NBA Playoff Picks that beat the spread and get results.  If you’re skeptical, monitor our daily plays on our homepage and see if our talent for picking winners exceeds your expectations.  Or join for two days…it’s only $19.99.  Join our family today and start winning tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com looks forward to another cash flowing night as we give our members the against the spread winner of Game 5 in the NBA Finals.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Orlando Magic as 2.5-point favorites with the total coming in around 198.

Los Angeles took a commanding 3-1 lead in the 2009 NBA Finals with a 99-91 victory over the Magic at Amway Arena. The Lakers took the cash as two-point road underdogs and the combined 190 points stayed ‘under’ the 202-point closing total.  This game marked the second time in this series that the under cashed inspite of an extra session of play.  The members of FiveStarPick.com had major heart attacks, but still cashed on the ‘under’ in both of those games. 

L.A. was trailing 87-84 with 11 seconds remaining in regulation, but then Dwight Howard missed a pair of free throws to keep the Lakers in it.  Derek Fisher seized the moment with a clutch 3 that sent the game into overtime. 

It reminds us of a very similar Orlando Magic incident that happened 14 years ago when Nick Anderson missed two free throws to lose the game against the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals. The old Orlando Magic joke used to be, “What does Nick “the brick” Anderson and Billy Graham have in common?  They were the only two people in America that could make a stadium full of people stand up and yell, ‘Jesus Christ’.”  History has repeated itself…now we can just insert Dwight Howard’s name in the same joke.  

With the game tied at 91 in OT, Bryant backed Pietrus down on the low post. When the double team came, Bryant found Fisher at the top of the key. Fisher’s go-ahead 3-pointer was the nail in the coffin.

Now let’s talk trends… in a road game where where the total is between 195 and 199.5 points, the Lakers are 15-12 against the spread.  When coming off an upset win as an underdog, the Lakers are 21-15 against the spread. The Orlando Magic are 10-6 against the spread in a home game where where the total is between 195 and 199.5 points and 69-45 against the spread when revenging a loss versus an opponent.

Who covers the spread in Game 5 of the 2009 NBA Finals?  Let the pros at FiveStarPick.com analyze the stats and trends and take some of the pressure off you tonight.  This is our life and our living and FiveStarPick.com will take away the guesswork in the 2009 NBA Finals and provide you with winning NBA Finals Picks that beat the spread and get results.  We are consistently providing over 3000 members with NBA Picks that cover the spread.  If you’re skeptical, monitor our plays from our homepage and see if our talent for picking winners exceeds your expectations.  Or join for two days…it’s only $19.99.  Join our family today and start winning tonight.

total is between 195 and 199.5 points, the Lakers are 15-12 against the spread.off an upset win as an underdog

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com will be giving its members two plays on today’s board, the first is in Major League Baseball as the Yankees take on the Red Sox and the other is tonight’s ‘Total’ in the NBA Finals.  The focus of today’s preview is the Game 4 showdown between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Magic as two point favorites with a total of 203.

On Tuesday, Orlando dropped Los Angeles 108-104 in Game 3 to pull within 1 in the best-of-seven series. The Magic set NBA Finals records for shooting percentage from the floor in both the first half (75%) and the game (63%).   However, Orlando’s specialty, the 3-point shot, was just 5-of-14 (35.7%) on Tuesday.  The key to Orlando’s success is balance and attacking the rim, which is exactly what the Magic did in Game 3.

Rafer Alston scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting in Game 3 and Pietrus had 18 points by hitting 7-of-11 attempts from the field. Kobe Bryant finished with 31 points but was just 3-of-10 in the second half including some costly misses from the free throw line. 

On another note worth mentioning, our email box was flooded with comments about why the refs blew the whistle at the end of game 3 with a half second left.  Orlando was pushing the spread as a 4-point favorite, 106-102.  The Lakers missed numerous 3-point attempts before Kobe Bryant finger rolled in a meaningless bucket to cut the lead to 106-104.  On the ensuing in-bounds play, the Lakers immediately fouled, but the horn sounded and the confetti fell from the rafters at Amway Arena.  For bettors who had the Lakers as four-point dogs, this was obviously crucial.

After reviewing the play, the officials added 0.2 ticks back on the clock and Rashard Lewis went to the free throw line for two. He hit both free throws for a push, but many of our Lakers bettors were pissed.  What’s even funnier about the second make is it appeared that Van Gundy wanted him to miss.  Maybe the coach had the Lakers in Game 3.  It wouldn’t be the first time a coach had bet big money against his own team.  But we will leave that to the conspiracy theorists. 

Bettors should also be aware that Game 3’s loss now gives the Lakers a road record of 4-5 both SU and against the spread in the playoffs. Fatigue could be an issue in Game 4, since this will be the second battle played on one-day of rest for both teams and the third game in five days.

Who covers the spread in Game 4 of the 2009 NBA Finals?  Let the pros at FiveStarPick.com analyze the stats and trends and take some of the pressure off you tonight.  This is our life and our living and FiveStarPick.com will take away the guesswork in the 2009 NBA Finals and provide you with winning NBA Finals Picks that beat the spread and get results.  We are consistently providing over 3000 members with NBA Picks that cover the spread.  If you’re skeptical, monitor our plays from our homepage and see if our talent for picking winners exceeds your expectations.  Or join for two days…it’s only $19.99.  Join our family today and start winning tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com