Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Lakers (-6.5) Betting Odds

The Los Angeles Lakers host the Boston Celtics for Game 6 of their best-of-seven series in the 2010 NBA Finals on Sunday at 8:00 P.M. Boston currently leads the series 3-2.

Boston returns to Los Angeles with a chance to wrap up their second NBA Title in three years and a record 18th in franchise history with a win in Tuesday's Game 6 of their series with the Lakers. After falling behind 2-1, they roared back with two big wins at home to open up the 3-2 edge. In Game 4 they relied on Glen Davis and Nate Robinson's 30 points off the bench to pull off a 96-89 victory. In Sunday night's Game 6, they used a stifling defense to force Kobe Bryant to try and single handedly beat them. Bryant ended up with 38 points, but the Celtics ended up with the 92-86 win.

With the scenery shifting to the bright lights of the Staples Center it will be time for the Lakers to get back to doing the things that got them this point in the first place. The first and most important aspect will be their ability to get more players involved in the game plan. With Andrew Bynum's ailing knee it is questionable how much he can contribute, but Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher have to once again elevate their game and Ron Artest needs to return to becoming a disruptive force on defense because Bryant will not be able to get it done on his own. In the last four games this team has averaged 90 points while in their previous 11 games before that they averaged 111. They need to find a way to score early and often, forcing Boston to play from behind.

All the Celtics need to do is copy the recipe from the last two games at home and bring it with them on the road. From a talent standpoint they appear to be the deeper team as all five of their starters as well as a good portion of their bench have got it done at various times in this series. They cannot rely on the outside shooting of Ray Allen or a huge game from Paul Pierce, rather they need one more solid team effort that shuts Los Angeles down on offense and allows them to control the tempo and the pace of this game.

Just to give you an idea of how evenly matched these two teams are in the last 10 games they have played against one another Boston is 5-4-1 ATS and 5-5 SU. In the last eight games played in LA, the Lakers are just 2-6 ATS. So far in this series the Celtics are 3-2 ATS and SU so even if they do not win outright they would be a good bet ATS.

Rankin's Prediction
Los Angeles finds a way to win to force a Game 7, but Boston and the 6.5 is looking pretty good in a close, hard fought battle to the end. Take the Celtics +6.5 at Betus.