Brooklyn vs Boston: Celtics have too many losses in the line-up

Boston managed to win only 1 match out of 2 at TD Garden. Now Brooklyn have a chance to close out the series already in the upcoming game, which will be held at the Barclays Center in New York. Will Boston be able to extend their clash into another matchday after all? Here are a few bets at once.

After the defeat in Game 3 of the series, there was a chance that Brooklyn might go down. But no, the Nets made a solid comeback in Game 4, winning 141-126. Scoring 141 points is a remarkable achievement, and such success on an always difficult away game at the TD Garden is doubly rewarding. Kevin Durant scored 42 points, Kyrie Irving had 39, James Harden had 23 points and as many as 18 assists. The Nets’ big trio is in good shape.

Interestingly, Brooklyn spent the majority of Game 4 without a centre. Blake Griffin played 18 minutes and only Nicolas Claxton played a combined 8 minutes.

Is one win against Brooklyn the Celtics’ maximum today? It may well be. Brad Stevens’ team struggled so badly to win Game 3 of the series that their rotation for Game 4 was even more limited. Kemba Walker and Robert Williams were injured. Clearly, without two crucial performers, it was more than difficult to count on a win in Game 4 as well. Jason Tatum scored 40 points and Evan Fournier and Marcus Smart scored 16. There was no one to back them up.

Brooklyn are without Jeff Green, which has significantly weakened the Net’s rotation. Boston, however, are unable to take advantage of their loss of space in the opponent’s three-second zone. With Romeo Langford in the starting lineup, the Celtics are unlikely to clinch victory at Barclays Center. Most likely, the Nets will close out the encounter with confidence. The prediction is for Steve Nash’s team to win the match and the series.

• Total Over 231.5 with odds of about 1.79;
• Brooklyn to win and Total Over 232.5 for about 2.05;
• Brooklyn to win a handicap (-12.5) for 1.92.