NBA Playoffs: Indiana Pacers at Boston Celtics tips, odds & betting preview

Starts midnight Wednesday night

Indiana kept Boston to their lowest points total of the season in Game One of their Eastern Conference first-round showdown – and still lost.

The Celtics mustered just 84 points in The Garden against a superb Pacers defence, yet that was good enough for an 84-74 success.

The Pacers need to step up on offence and that looks entirely plausible. With just a tad more accuracy the visitors should easily be able to cover a 7.5-point spread.

Indiana will surely improve on a lamentable 29 points total from the third and fourth quarters while Bojan Bogdanovic must contribute more than 12 points.

Elsewhere, Giannis Antetokounmpo played only 23 minutes of Milwaukee’s opener against Detroit and still piled up 24 points and 17 rebounds. The Bucks went on to win 121-86 and another rout is anticipated.

Over in the Western Conference, Houston saw Utah’s talent for bouncing back last year and they will be wary despite beating the Jazz 122-90. Jazz coach Quin Snyder masterminded two Game Two bouncebacks after opening defeats in the 2018 playoffs, but with James Harden on fire it’s desperately hard to see anything other than a Rockets repeat.

Recommendation
Indiana +7.5
1pt 10-11 Ladbrokes

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