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Magic hope to avoid 2-0 series hole vs. CelticsBasketball Betting Lines05/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If you live by the sword, you die by the sword, or in the case of the Orlando Magic, if you live by the three, you die by the three. The long-range bombs were misfiring for Orlando in the opener of its Eastern Conference Finals series with Boston on Sunday and now the Magic find themselves squarely behind the eight-ball as the teams get set for Game 2 of the series on Tuesday night. Paul Pierce netted 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds and handed out five assists to lead the Celtics to a 92-88 wire-to-wire victory over Orlando in Game 1. Boston, which finished off its second-round upset of the top-seeded Cavaliers on Thursday, continued its solid play by forcing 18 turnovers and holding the Magic to 22.7 percent shooting from three-point range to hand Orlando its first loss this postseason. In fact, the Magic hadn't tasted defeat since falling in San Antonio in the regular season, well over a month ago (April 2). Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy certainly wasn't happy with his shooters but blamed the loss on his team's inability to protect the ball. "The biggest thing was turnovers," Van Gundy said. "We aren't giving ourselves a chance to win with 18 turnovers. We have to be able to convert better in the paint. I thought we got the ball into the paint, but we weren't very efficient. Nothing is going to be easy in this series." The Magic trailed by as many as 20 points before cutting the deficit to five in the final minute. Rashard Lewis, who finished 0-for-6 from three-point range, missed a three with the Magic trailing 88-83, but J.J. Redick controlled a long rebound, and Dwight Howard cleaned up a Jameer Nelson miss for a three-point game with 26.1 seconds on the clock. Pierce was fouled with 12.9 to go and hit both free throws to end a 5 1/2- minute scoreless drought for Boston. Vince Carter was hacked 3.5 ticks later going to the hoop and hit the first before missing the second from the stripe. Nelson came from the top of the key to put in an acrobatic tip shot, though Ray Allen pushed it back to two possessions with a 2-for-2 effort at the line with 6.1 seconds remaining. Lewis' missed three -- his sixth of the game -- gave the Celtics their fourth straight win and allowed Boston to steal home- court advantage. "I really felt like the two days off was just enough. We felt really good going into this game. Our rhythm was there," Pierce said. "We have to expect Orlando to be ready in Game 2. Hopefully we come in with the same type of rhythm." Allen ended with 25 points, while Kevin Garnett grabbed 11 rebounds to go with eight points for the Celtics, who received eight points and eight assists from Rajon Rondo. Rasheed Wallace was solid off the bench with 13 points and helped contain Howard on the defensive end. "I think defensively in the first half we were terrific," Boston head coach Doc Rivers said. "It was a defensive game. We like those. They're good for us." Howard, who missed a total of five shots in a second-round sweep of the Hawks, finished with 13 points on 3-of-10 shooting to go with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots but committed seven turnovers. Carter and Nelson chipped in 23 and 20 points, respectively, for Orlando, which had won 14 straight games dating back to the regular season, including sweeps over Charlotte and Atlanta in the playoffs. The latter was especially impressive, as the Magic recorded the largest victory margin in a four-game sweep in NBA playoff history, winning the series against the Hawks by a total of 101 points. "I don't think we moved the ball like we needed to get them off our bodies," Howard said. "That's what we have to do to beat this team." The Magic won three of four games vs. the Celtics in the regular season this year and has taken both previous playoff matchups between the two franchises, last year's Eastern Conference semifinals set and a first round win back in the 1994-95 season. The best-of-seven series continues on Saturday in Boston for Game 3.
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MySportsbook.com: NBA Championship Odds With the playoffs about two months away, the top two teams in the Western Conference are the clear cut leaders to win the NBA Championship. The Dallas Mavericks have the best record in the NBA (44-9) and have been absolutely scorching since the second week of the season. What makes the Mavs’ record more impressive is the fact that they dropped their first four games of the season. Currently they have won 17 out of their last 18 and are MySportsbook.com’s favorite (2-1) to win it all. Right behind the Mavs are the Pacific leading Phoenix Suns (39-13). Last season, the Suns lost in the Conference Finals to non-other then the Mavericks four games to two. Of course the Suns were without center Amare Stoudemire who has is averaging 19.9 PPG and 9.5 RPG since coming back from his knee injury. Unlike the Mavs, the Suns have struggled a bit lately having lost their last three and four out of their last seven. Of course the main reason for their three straight loses is due to the absence of two time MVP Steve Nash, who is out with a shoulder injury. Heads-up, the Mavs have beaten the Suns in both of their meetings this season. In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons (32-19) are the favorites to win it all at 6-1. The addition of Chris Webber seems to have been a good move for the Pistons. Since coming over from the 76ers, Webber has averaged 13.1 PPG and 7.3 RPG and the Pistons are 11-4. Even though the defending champion Heat are currently on the playoff making cusp, they are the Eastern Conference team that is getting the most action to win it all (9-1). The fact that Shaquille O’Neal is back in the starting lineup after missing 39 games probably has something to do with this. No doubt, Shaq makes a difference when in the lineup as their winning six out of their last seven would indicate. Just because it is the All-Star break doesn’t mean that you can’t bet on NBA hoops this weekend. Be sure to log onto MySportsbook.com to bet on who you think will cut down the nets this July. Also, be sure to check out all of the lines and props for All-Star weekend. With the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry, there are plenty of ways to cash in on the NBA this weekend. MySportsbook.com’s NBA Championship odds: Atlanta Hawks 1000-1 Boston Celtics 5000-1 Charlotte Bobcats 5000-1 Chicago Bulls 20-1 Cleveland Cavaliers 20-1 Dallas Mavericks 2-1 Denver Nuggets 25-1 Detroit Pistons 6-1 Golden State Warriors 250-1 Houston Rockets 12-1 Indiana Pacers 60-1 Los Angeles Clippers 45-1 Memphis Grizzlies 5000-1 Miami Heat 9-1 Milwaukee Bucks 1000-1 Minnesota T-Wolves 200-1 New Jersey Nets 50-1 New Orleans Hornets 150-1 New York Knicks 150-1 Orlando Magic 75-1 Philadelphia 76ers 1000-1 Phoenix Suns 5-2 Portland TrailBlazers 1000-1 Sacramento Kings 250-1 San Antonio Spurs 9-1 Seattle Sonics 5000-1 Toronto Raptors 35-1 Utah Jazz 20-1 Washington Wizards 25-1 About MySportsbook.com:
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