Last night the Celtics were a banker. I watched the game and they did not even struggle against the Bulls, as their plays were slow and precise. Allen finally got his accuracy back and that is good news for tonight. The Celtics will face the Pacers in Boston.

Celtics are one win away from the "60+ wins season" everyone was hoping they would get. It would be really nice to hit this margin in front of their fans, and i believe they will run for it. Celtics have 4 win in a row right now. After two excellent games against the Suns and the Hornets, they played with their bench mostly against the lowly Heat and won 20+, and last night took the game easy and still swept the Bulls in their 4th encounter this season 106-92. The team has to play better and better in these last 8 games, as they have to be in top form while entering the playoffs. Tonight's opponent i doubt can make any trouble.

Indiana Pacers are are 3 games behind the Hawks in the Eastern Conference, and are trying to get that spot. But even though their schedule will be not so hard, including a direct clash with the Hawks, their contender's schedule is almost equally easy. Moreover, if the Hawks win tonight at home against the Raptors, the race is over in my opinion, as a 4-game gap will be impossible to narrow down with 7 games to go. The Pacers are a high-rhythm team. They have 3 wins in 5 games, but lost 4 of their last 5 away. Their defense is not that good, while their offense has been working decently in the last games.

The problem here is that the Celtics are experts against "running" teams this season. Their defense can handle them very well, as it happened against the Nuggets(119-93), Warriors(105-92), Supersonics(111-82), Suns(117-97). Fast teams fell hard in Boston, and Pacers two games at home against them this season are not a good sign for Indiana's chances of winning:

- in November, Celtics won 101-86 in Indiana while shooting 42% compared to Pacers' 35%. Pierce had a great night with 31 points and 11 rebounds

- in February, Celtics won 104-97 in Indiana while shooting 42% equal to Pacers' percentage. Pierce had another good game with 28 points and 12 rebounds. The smaller margin was due to the fact that Kevin Garnett was injured and did not play and his absence has been very important for the Celtics. Tinsley and O'Neal were out for the Pacers.

Now the Celtics return home and want a 3rd win. They are without any important injuries, while the Pacers are still without Tinsley. Good news for them is the return of J. O'Neal, but he only played a quarter or so in the last game, and i doubt he is fully fit for such a tough game in Boston.

A final thing to add is that the Pacers also had trouble while traveling to defensive teams such as Pistons(101-114; 80-96), Rockets(99-117) or Cavaliers(105-118). DD defeats in all their games, while Celtics DD wins against all open teams. The 11 point line is a bit high, and this is the reason why i will reduce the stakes by 3 units, but still i expect here a 15-20 point-win for the Celtics. Good luck.

Pick : Celtics -11
Odds : 2.03
Stake : 7 / 10
Bookmaker : Pinnacle
Date : 2008-04-03
Match Result : 92-77
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