The NBA’s two most popular and storied teams have reached the 2010 NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have combined for 32 NBA titles and will face off for the 12th time against each other for the league championship. In 2008 Boston – then with home-court advantage – beat the Lakers in six games for title No. 17. But those Lakers didn’t yet have Ron Artest as they do now or have injured big man Andrew Bynum, who will play in this series despite another injury. The Los Angeles Lakers have opened as a -180 series favorite at online sports BODOG.com.
The key for the Lakers is to simply win that opening game at home, and Los Angeles is a 5.5-point favorite . Teams coached by Phil Jackson are 47-0 all-time in a series in which they win the first game of a best-of-seven series. The Lakers have won Game 1 in each round of the playoffs so far this year and are 28-3 in their past 31 home playoff games. But the Celtics are 5-3 on the road in these playoffs and already upset two teams – Cleveland and Orlando – with better records than the Lakers during the regular season. Can Boston pull another upset as the +160 underdog? Bet on the 2010 NBA Finals at online sportsbook BODOG.com.
It’s a ratings and betting bonanza for the online sportsbooks whenever the Celtics and Lakers meet. In the 1980s thanks to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the Boston Celtics vs Los Angeles Lakers rivalry helped save the league and sent it to its highest levels of popularity ever. It seemed like those two teams faced off in the NBA Finals every season – but in fact they only played three times with Bird and Magic involved.
The Celtics fell on mostly hard times at the start of this century, while the Lakers – thanks to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal – were title contenders nearly every season, and Kobe and Shaq won three straight titles together before their relationship soured and Shaq was sent packing. Boston returned to glory times once the team acquired future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to go with Paul Pierce, and Boston was back in the NBA Finals in 2008 for the first time since Bird lost to Magic in 1987. BODOG.com favored Celtics beat Kobe’s Lakers in six games for the franchise’s NBA-high 17 title.
But Kobe got L.A. back to the Finals last season and led them over the Orlando Magic for the Lakers’ 15th NBA title. And now Bryant gets a chance to earn his fifth ring by leading the Lakers past Boston in these NBA Finals. If Kobe wins ring No. 5, he would tie Magic’s total with the Lakers and be just one shy of the amount Michael Jordan won in his career – BODOG.com offers a Kobe NBA player prop bet on whether he will win more rings than MJ in his career.
Of course BODOG.com has the 2010 NBA Finals covered from the opening tip until the final buzzer with various team and player odds and props. L.A. has opened as the -180 series favorite as it has home-court advantage this year unlike in ’08 against Boston. Kobe Bryant is the overwhelming 4 to 7 odds favorite to win NBA Finals MVP for the second year in a row.
