Monday's NBA Playoffs Gambling Favored Boston to Eradicate The Magic

Boston was favored in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday in NBA Playoffs gambling. However, oddsmakers didn't consider the sheer stubbornness of Orlando. Pushed by desperation, the Magic to slightly edge out the Celtics to win, 96-92.

The Celts lead Orlando three games to none and could have eliminated the Magic with a win on Monday. Orlando has been horrible in this series so the basketball betting odds have really gone in favor of Boston.

NBA Playoffs odds listed the Celtics as 7-point favorites on Monday with a total of 188 in a game that was seen on ESPN. What may have already been forgotten about this series is that Orlando were supposed to win it. Orlando was getting dominated and humiliated instead of being in control as expected. The orlando magic were blown out in Game 3 and not many people gave them any possibility of winning Game 4 on Monday.

The Magic played about as bad as a playoff team can on Saturday night. People are saying that they quit and calling them soft. There is not really a greater insult to a team. Vince Carter is viewed as the traditional playoff choker, but hasn't made a strong showing so far. Rashard Lewis has always had the reputation of a player that doesn't show up all the time in the playoffs either, and Dwight Howard is now getting that reputation as well.

"We didn't win this game just to win a game and say we were in this series," Howard said. "We want to make this a series and win this series. We all believe that."

Howard had a measly seven points in the Celtic's NBA Playoffs rout on Saturday. Lewis was invisible as always and Carter was terrible as usual. Lewis scored only 15 points total in all three games, averaging five points in the first three games of the series. When Orlando needed to play well in the most important game of the season on Saturday, they quit.

In Monday's game, Lewis got 13 points by the end of the game, scoring in the double digits for the first time this series, though Carter was still a ghost. Howard made a more impressive showing in the game, even slapping the Celtics' Kevin Garnett in the face while fighting for a rebound before getting into a spat with him. Howard finished the game with 32 points and 16 rebounds.

"It wasn't over. Even though we knew we were down -3, you have to win four games to win the series," Howard said. "I kept telling myself, 'Don't give up. Just keep fighting.' I didn't want to give up because I just felt like there was a lot of people pulling for us to keep going. That was it."

Orlando is 6-1 versus the basketball gambling odds in their last seven road games so oddsmakers knew there was a shot if they decide to show some heart. Boston struggled at home during the regular season but lately they have been excellent going 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a home favorite.

Celtics gambling fans were surely let down by this game, expecting that their favorite team would easily steamroll Orlando and be ushered into their 21st NBA Finals showing. For their part, Orlando avoided an embarrassing sweep with this win and blocked the Celtics from completely eliminating them from the series. Orlando's coach, Stan Van Gundy, expressed pride in his team for not giving up on the series.

"When you're down 3-, what you're fighting against is human nature to just sort of let it go," Van Gundy said. "Our guys didn't do that. They stayed in the fight. We made some big plays, and did what we had to do to get a very, very tough win."