The NBA Eastern Conference finals has reached it's dramatic climax as the Miami Heat travel to the Boston Celtics for game 7 at the TD Garden.
After taking a shock 3-0 lead in the series, the Heat have dropped the next three against Boston and now face the prospect of becoming the first team to ever blow a 3-0 lead in conference finals history.
The winner of this game will head to the NBA Finals to take on the Denver Nuggets for the right to be crowned 2023 champions, but we'll break down this game first and provide you with our best free NBA betting picks to see if we can earn you some extra cash.
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Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat Game 7 information
- Monday, May 29th 2023
- 20:30 ET
- TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
- NBA Eastern Conference finals
- Series tied 3-3
NBA Eastern Conference Finals series so far
The Heat claimed the win in Game 1 thanks to a 123-116 performance that saw six players hit double figures for points during the game including a game high 35 from Jimmy Butler. Bam Adebayo hit 20 while all of Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Caleb Martin and Kyle Lowry all hit 15 each too. Jayson Tatum top scored for the Celtics with 30, but it wasn't enough.
Game 2 took a similar path as Miami earned a 111-105 win thanks to Butler (27), Martin (25) and Adebayo (22) all scoring for fun. Tatum was the top scorer in the game with 34, but Jaylen Brown was the next highest scorer with just 16 and the rest of the team couldn't help him out.
Next up was a blowout in Miami's favor, claiming a huge 128-102 win in the FTX Arena to seemingly seal the series and a place in the finals. Butler went 16-8-6, but it was the supporting cast that shone as Vincent hit 29 points, Duncan Robinson hit 22 and Martin hit 18. Boston were awful, with Tatum top scoring for them with just 14 points.
But that performance seemed to trigger something in Boston as they bounced back in Game 4 with a 116-99 win in Miami. Butler hit 29 points with 9 rebounds, but the brilliant Tatum had a brilliant fourth quarter to end the game with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.
Game 5 saw the nerves kick in as the home crowd in Boston helped make it 3-2 with a 110-97 win as Tatum and Brown were joined by Derrick White and Marcus Smart in scoring 20+ points, before Game 6 was won with a final second tip-in to set up this amazing series finale.
NBA picks: Miami Heat cover the spread
At this point nobody can tell you who is going to win the game, but one thing that seems like a banker is that it will be relatively close.
All things point to the Celtic being successful with momentum on their side and a home court advantage, but Miami have avoided being blown away in any of the games so far in the series and will back themselves to keep it tight throughout.
With a spread of +7.5, they essentially have to ensure they're still in the game in the final minutes and after pushing so hard in all six games we know they're capable of keeping up with the Celtics.
It also helps that Miami is 12-5 against the spread in the playoffs, which is the best record and highest cover percentage among all teams that made the postseason. It’s gone 4-2 ATS in this series and covered in Game 6 as 3-point underdogs.
Erik Spoelstra will ensure that his team is put in a position to win, and it seems really unlikely that either team will blow the other out of the water in this game 7 clash. If you're not sure who is going to claim the win, then back the Heat to cover the spread and earn some cash without paying too much attention to who is heading on to face the Nuggets.
Check out our review for BetOnline sports betting here.
NBA picks: Over 203 points
The lowest scoring game of the series so far stands at 207 points, which makes it odd to see the points total tally set so low by the bookmakers.
As mentioned previously this game is likely to be tight, but not this tight. I would expect both teams to clear 100 points in this all or nothing game because they both have elite scorers in their team, and the supporting cast has shown up on several occasions throughout the series to back them up too.
This point total just feels too low. The Celtics had an abysmal showing from three in Game 6, and the Heat couldn’t get anything going in the paint, and these teams still found a way to hit 207.
We'll likely start to see a slower pace as we start to wind down the series in the final quarter but the teams should still be able to hit above the 203 point mark for this bet to cash and everyone to earn a decent chunk of change from it in the process.
Check out our review for MyBookie sports betting here.
