Raheem Palmer, Action Network’s NBA analyst, makes his selections for two of the first-round series that begin Sunday.
Celtics win series (-130, DraftKings)
It’s …
Raheem Palmer, Action Network’s NBA analyst, makes his selections for two of the first-round series that begin Sunday. Celtics win series (-130, DraftKings) It’s never easy betting against Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in a seven game series, but based on the numbers, I have to do it. My initial reaction to seeing the opening line of Celtics -110/Nets -120 was to reenact Johnnie Cochran’s Chewbacca defense in “South Park”: To put it bluntly, it does not make sense. My power ratings have the Celtics as the league’s best team (even better than the Suns) primarily based on their defense, which ranks first in the NBA, allowing just 106.9 points per 100 possessions in their non-garbage time minutes. The Celtics are the more complete team and if they’re capable of decreasing the efficiency of Durant and Irving just slightly, they should win this series.
