NBA Betting Trends: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics

NBA Betting Trends: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics

The best rivalry in the NBA will be renewed tonight as the Los Angeles Lakers (14-11) travel to Boston to take on the Celtics (14-10). This game is a rematch of both the 2008 and 2010 NBA finals, although neither of these teams look to be title contenders in the early season.

Although the Celtics are in the midst of a 5-game winning streak, the Big Three are beginning to show their age and GM Danny Ainge has even discussed breaking up the trio. On the other side, the Lakers have lost two straight and have struggled to replace the bench production of Lamar Odom — who was traded to the Mavericks prior to the season.

The Celtics opened as 3-point favorite at the market-setting Cris sportsbook, according to Sports Insights’ NBA Betting Trends, they are currently receiving just 38% of spread wagers and 53% of moneyline bets. Despite this lop-sided betting percentage, the line remains at -3.

While a handful of sportsbooks have this game available at -3 most of the marketplace — including 5dimes and Olympic — is offering a line of -3.5. We consistently preach the value of keeping multiple books because it is one of the most important factors when you shop for the best line.

While there have been no notable betting systems triggered on the spread for this game, there has been plenty of interesting action concerning the total. So far, 80% of bettors have taken the over, however the total has dropped from 176.5 to 175 across the marketplace. This reverse line movement is a strong indicator that sharp money is taking the under. In addition, both a steam move and smart money play were triggered on the under at Cris.

The following table shows the breakdown of spread betting percentages from our six contributing sportsbooks: