Celtics odds cut as fight back begins?
Firstly, those massive odds against GSW were well formed, they went out with a Curryless whimper in five games against Minnesota, the progression won't have changed the Timberwolves odds too much though, as it was pretty much guaranteed the moment Curry pulled up in Game 1.
Over in Boston perhaps the Celtics have found some fight as they won game 5 to take the series to 2-3. Game 6 is at MSG - and what price the Knicks to win one of their possible two remaining series games? Pretty short, we still expect NYK to progress...at least we hope they do.
At time of publishing the futures odds for winning the 2024/25 NBA Championships look like this:
OKC: best odds 1.75 (in from 1.8 yesterday)
Minnesota: best odds 6.5 (in from 7)
New York: best odds 7 (out from 6)
Indiana: best odds 7.5 (in from 8)
Boston: best odds 19 (in from 29)
Denver: best odds 31 (unchanged)
Cleveland: Eliminated (were 13)
Golden State: Eliminated (were 251)
CELTICS 127, KNICKS 102
Betting Results:
Head to Head: Celtics, odds 1.507
Line: Celtics (-5.5), odds 1.901
Total Points: Over (207.5) odds 1.909
Pre-game Prediction
Knicks, 42.9%
Celtics, 57.1%
Knicks lead the Eastern Conference Semifinal series 3-2
BOSTON (AP) — Before the Boston Celtics took the floor without their biggest star on a night they had to win, Joe Mazzulla implored his players to just pour everything they had into winning one game.
They did, and the defending NBA champions earned another chance to extend their season.
Derrick White had 34 points, including seven 3-pointers, to lead the Celtics to a 127-102 Game 5 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night that kept them alive in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“We did what was necessary to do what we needed to do to get it back to New York,” Mazzulla said. “You don’t get to pick the test that you have, you pick how you respond to them.”
The Celtics connected on 22 3-pointers to post their first home victory of the series and first without Jayson Tatum following his season-ending Achilles tendon injury .
“Losing JT is tough,” White said. “But we’ve got a lot of guys that are highly competitive, and we didn’t want the season to end tonight.”
The Knicks will try again to win the series Friday in New York. If the Celtics win, Game 7 would be in Boston on Monday.
Jaylen Brown added 26 points and 12 assists. Payton Pritchard had 17 points and five 3-pointers. Luke Kornet finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. He started the second half for Kristaps Porzingis, who played just 12 minutes. Mazzulla said Porzingis was having trouble breathing as he continues to deal with a lingering viral illness.
The Celtics are looking to become just the 14th team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 deficit in 294 attempts.
Josh Hart led the Knicks with 24 points despite briefly leaving the game late in the first quarter to close a bloody gash over his eye after he took an inadvertent elbow.
Jalen Brunson added 22 points before fouling out with 7:19 to play in the game.
Boston closed the third quarter on a 23-9 run and took a 91-76 lead to the fourth. Brunson spent the final 2:45 of the third on the bench after picking up his fifth foul.
“They came out with a sense of urgency that we need,” Brunson said.
The Celtics kept it going in the final period, pushing their lead as high as 28 points.
The game was highly physical throughout and included a brief face-to-face skirmish between Hart and Brown.
That energy carried over offensively. The Celtics came out hot, getting five 3s from White and 12 total in the opening 24 minutes.
“We’ve got to play desperate. I don’t think we did that,” Knicks guard Mikal Bridges said.
But the Knicks held as much as a nine-point lead, connecting on eight 3s of their own and getting 10 second-chance points. Mitchell Robinson also converted on all four of his free throw attempts in the first half, nullifying the series-long intentional foul strategy Boston employed on him.
NBA's Top 5 Plays of the Night - May 14 - NBA Playoff Semifinals
TIMBERWOLVES 121, WARRIORS 110
Betting Results:
Head to Head: Timberwolves, odds 1.236
Line: Timberwolves (-9.5), odds 1.92
Total Points: Over (202) odds 1.917
Pre-game Prediction
Warriors, 20.6%
Timberwolves, 79.4%
Timberwolves win the Western Conference Semifinal series 4-1
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Anthony Edwards approached for a handshake during Julius Randle’s postgame TV interview, the duo putting a seal on another dominant series for Minnesota in these NBA playoffs.
Randle scored 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting to send the Timberwolves to the Western Conference finals for the second straight year with a 121-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
“I just try to do my best to read the game in the best way I can,” Randle said. “They threw different coverages at us all series long.”
Edwards had 22 points and 12 assists for the sixth-seeded Wolves, who will face the Denver-Oklahoma City winner next. They could get five days off, if the Nuggets beat the Thunder on Thursday to force a Game 7 in the other West semifinal series.
Brandin Podziemski had a playoff career-high 28 points for the Warriors, who again played without star Stephen Curry because of the hamstring strain that forced him out of the second quarter in Game 1 and took the heart out of their entire offensive operation.
“I don’t want to take anything away from what Minnesota just accomplished,” coach Steve Kerr said. “No sense in even talking about Steph.”
Jonathan Kuminga provided another energy boost off the bench with 26 points, but Podziemski’s performance came too late and the production from Jimmy Butler and Buddy Hield was consistently too little after they led the series-opening win.
Golden State presented far more of a defensive challenge than the Los Angeles Lakers did for Minnesota during their five-game series in the first round, but the collection of every-level scorers the Wolves can throw at an opponent when they’re moving the ball and pushing the pace simply wore down the Warriors over the course of the series.
Rudy Gobert was a force around the rim with 17 points, Mike Conley had 16 points and eight assists, and Donte DiVincenzo snapped out of a slump with 13 points as the Wolves shot a staggering 77% on 2-pointers (36 for 47). They set franchise postseason records for assists (36) and field goal percentage (62.8%).
Series close-out games can sometimes be the toughest to win, but the Wolves played with a ferocity paired with their shooting touch that all but portended victory. Randle kept up his superb postseason, providing a constant source of energy and production.
The Wolves stretched their lead as high as 25 points in the third quarter, large enough to withstand a late Warriors push that pulled them to 99-90 with 7:11 left. But Edwards answered with a 3, and the crowd started mixing “Wolves in 5! Wolves in 5!” chants in with the roars for each made basket that got them closer to advancing.
“There is no satisfaction,” Edwards said. “We just got here.”
