NBA Betting: Series of a lifetime goes to the wire

Basketball / Nick Shiambouros / 01 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

After a nail-baiting climax to a classic encounter, Nick Shiambouros wonders whether it will be the Chicago Bulls or the defending champions who rally themselves to take the series decider.

In what has been described by many as the series of a lifetime the Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics 128-127 very late on Thursday in an unprecedented triple overtime game to force a deciding game seven.

These two teams traded punches all night like Ali versus Frazier but it was Chicago who prevailed in a true classic. This match lasted close to four hours and both teams were on the verge of collapse as they walked off the court. This was the fourth overtime game in the series. Chicago traded at [1.06] in the second half but Boston never gave up and amazingly rallied from 11 points down to lead in the fourth and traded at 1.04 themselves. To try to put this series in to perspective, five of the six games played have been decided by one possession. Ray Allen scored an amazing 51 points for Boston and he looked devastated as he walked off the floor unable to deal with the loss.

It is only fitting that this series should go down to the last game in Boston on Saturday night to determine who plays Orlando in the next round. This is one game I really can't call but what I can say is that I have seen the best play-off series ever played. Good luck to both teams.

The Orlando Magic finally put away the Philadelphia 76ers 114-89 to win the series 4-2 late on Thursday evening. Dwight Howard was missing from the line-up for the Magic due to a controversial foul on Samuel Dalembert in game five. This was a much better effort from Orlando but they have been far from impressive in this series. Orlando are coming off one of the best regular seasons in recent years but they look like a different team now. Coach Stan Van Gandy has the weekend to come up with a game plan to get this rotation to play the kind of basketball that got them to the post season. At least they will be well rested to face Boston or Chicago next week.

The Dallas Mavericks dispatched the San Antonio Spurs from the playoffs on Tuesday night with a 106-93 victory in Texas to win the series 4-1.Dirk Nowitski was unstoppable for the Mavericks as he scored 31 points. The power forward torched the Spurs inside with his fade away jump shot and sheer physical strength .The Spurs really missed Manu Ginobili who was sidelined with an ankle injury but this series was all about Dallas. This was the first time in nine years that San Antonio has not made the second round of the playoffs. Dallas now meet Denver in the next round .

As expected Denver sent a very disappointing New Orleans team packing with a 106-87 win on Wednesday night to close out the series 4-1. I do not think the Nuggets will have it so easy against a seasoned Dallas rotation. This series gets underway on Sunday when Dallas travel to Denver in a nationally televised game. I will be backing Dallas to win the series in this one as they are coming good at the right time are playing solid defense.

Also on Wednesday, the Miami Heat lost gave five against Atlanta to fall behind 3-2 in the series . Mike Bibby had the hot hand for the Hawks, scoring a valuable 17 points. Game six is on Friday night in Miami and now I think it is almost inevitable that this series will go all the way.