Oddsmakers in Nevada and offshore would sure love to see an underdog cover the spread just once in either of the NBA’s conference finals. But bettors sure don’t think that’s going to happen today in Game 3 in the East. Covers checks in on the action with Scott Shelton, sportsbook supervisor at The Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip, and Scott Kaminsky, director of offshore sportsbook TheGreek.com. **video
As if Boston’s chances of any success in the Eastern Conference finals weren’t limited enough by the fact that Cleveland is red-hot, the Celtics will not have star guard Isaiah Thomas for the rest of the playoffs – and that probably won’t be much longer. After showing little resistance in Game 1 at home, the Celts (61-36 SU, 49-46-2 ATS) were even worse in Game 2 Friday, getting boatraced 130-86 as a 5-point underdog.
Thomas re-aggravated a hip injury and missed the second half of the blowout loss. Not that it mattered, as the Cavaliers (61-31 SU, 43-45-4 ATS) led 72-31 at halftime. LeBron James & Co have been unstoppable in the playoffs at 10-0 SU and 7-2-1 ATS, with a 7-0-1 pointspread record over the last eight games.
“We lose every one of these basketball games,” Shelton lamented of the NBA playoffs of late. “We just get our teeth kicked in every night. And that’s what will happen tonight if the Cavs win by more than 17.”
The Mirage opened Cleveland -14.5 Saturday morning on the expectation that Thomas wouldn’t suit up for the Celts, and that was confirmed later in the day. Shelton said MGM Resorts books briefly took the game off the board, then saw the line steadily creep as high as 17.
“It’s all Cavs and the over,” he said. “I am getting some buyback now from the sharps at +17, but then I go to 16.5, and it gets bet back up to 17. We had a lot of damage done at Cavs -15 and -15.5, so we really need the Celtics to cover 14.”
TheGreek.com also opened at 14.5 for this 8:30 p.m. ET tipoff and saw the line surge on the Thomas update, which surprised Kaminsky a little.
“I was up with my line before Thomas was officially ruled out, but it sure looked like he wasn’t going to play,” Kaminsky said, noting he assumed that when he set the opener. “Then it was announced he was out, and they bet it up. We got as high as 17, and now we’re down to 16.5.”
But Kaminsky said his shop isn’t in too bad a shape on the game.
“We need the Celtics for something. It’s not huge,” he said.
The Greek opened the total at 216 and dropped as low as 213.5 Saturday night, but over wagers pushed that back up to 215.5 this afternoon.
“We’ve got good two-way action on the total,” Kaminsky said.
Shelton added that first-half wagering was heavy on the Cavaliers, despite a spread of -10.5 (-125) this afternoon.
“We lose six figures to the Cavs on that,” he said. “We just can’t make these lines high enough. We’re getting killed, and bettors are winning every game.”
Patrick Everson is a Las Vegas-based senior writer for Covers. Follow him on Twitter: @Covers_Vegas.
