The Boston Celtics have dominated the first three games of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series with the Indiana Pacers and now it could be coming to an end. The Celtics will look to advance to the next round when they visit Indiana in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. Can the Pacers find some offence to extend this series by a game or is it over for them?

NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis

Boston is now 22-20 on the road this season and have covered four straight away games. The Celtics are also 4-1-1 against the spread (ATS) in their last six games following a straight up win.

Meanwhile, the Pacers went 29-13 on their home floor throughout the regular season. Indiana is 4-1-1 against the spread in its last six games following an ATS loss and are 12-5-1 ATS in their last 19 conference quarterfinal matchups. However, Indiana is also 1-4-1 against the spread in its last six games overall.

Boston Celtics

The Celtics still haven’t looked like the dominant, Eastern Conference favorite they were supposed to be but they are playing well. They’re taking care of business against a shorthanded opponent.

They’re being led by Kyrie Irving, who had 19 points, 10 assists and five rebounds in Game 3. He has played at the level that Boston needs him to play at if they are going to make a championship run. A number of other players are stepping up too, including Jaylen Brown, who had 23 points in Game 3. They also got 18 from Jayson Tatum and 16 from Al Horford. These are all the key cogs that the Celtics need working fluidly in the coming rounds.

However, in this round, Indiana has yet to top 96 points. As long as Boston can hold the Pacers to fewer than 96 points in Game 4, they should be able to win outright.

Indiana Pacers

The Pacers haven’t been out of the first round of the playoffs since the 2013-14 season and it doesn’t look like it will happen this year. We’ve highlighted their offensive issues in our previews and they still don’t have any answers. Game 3 was their best offensive game but they still managed just 96 points. That probably won’t be good enough in Game 4.

Of course, we know that Indiana is without its best offensive player in Victor Oladipo. Bojan Bogdanovic, Wesley Matthews, Darren Collison and Myles Turner have all done their part to keep the Pacers in the first three games but they still need more. All five of their starters scored in double-figures in Game 3 and they still lost by eight. Tyreke Evans even kicked in 19 and they still lost by eight. It’s hard to see how this gets any better. They need the same type of effort and two players in the 20’s. That’s a tall order for them.

CELTICS

Away

94

PACERS

Home

84

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