For a Boston Celtics team that has had to deal with injuries to not one, but two All-Stars as they entered the NBA playoffs, it is indeed an irony that their ticket to the championship round may get punched, in part, because their opponent suffered an injury to an All-Star player. But that may indeed be the case as they prepare for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The action begins at 8:35 PM ET at the TD Garden in Boston, and BetAnySports customers will have an opportunity to place wagers even after the game begins as they take advantage of what Live Betting Ultra has to offer.

The Cavs will have to go into this deciding game without Kevin Love, who bumped heads with Boston's Jayson Tatum in Game 6 and had to be removed. Since he has now gone into the league's concussion protocol, he is disqualified from participating. Love averaged 9.8 rebounds during the series, almost 85% of them on the defensive end, and on a team that is dominated by LeBron James, he is clearly the second offensive option, tallying 12.5 ppg. His importance lies in the ability to operate on the inside, while also being able to step out and hit perimeter shots, and he is also one of the better outlet passers in the league.

For the Celtics, this has been very much a Jekyll-and-Hyde story of being at home or away. They have gone 10-0 on their own floor during the post-season, with a 1-7 record as the visitor. This is actually a winning formula as long as you can get the home court advantage throughout, and since the Toronto Raptors, the #1 seed in the East, were eliminated in four straight by the Cavs, that left the Celts as the highest-seeded team remaining. And with regard to that "home court edge," it has operated pretty well according to form, with Boston winning its three home games by double digits, while Cleveland has beaten the Celtics all three times at the Quicken Loans Arena by nine points or more.

In the NBA playoff betting odds on this game, as they are posted at BetAnySports, the Celtics are favored:

Boston Celtics -2.5
Cleveland Cavaliers +2.5

Over 198.5 points -110
Under 198.5 points -110

On Friday night, LeBron scored 46 points, leading his team to a 109-99 victory. He is just below 34 points a game for the post-season, and it seems like every year we find ourselves talking about other players for the MVP award, but when it gets to the playoffs, there is always the reaffirmation that King James is the best this sport has to offer. The way coach Tyronn Lue puts it, "We're going into a Game 7 with the baddest dude on the planet on our team." And that is pretty much the strategy; give him the ball and let him do what he wants.

In Game 6, that amounted to a 40.2 Usage rate, which is astronomical. But there is no reason for them to change at this point, since they have to go with what they do best, which is to clear out the lane for LeBron. The mission for the Celtics to exploit Love's absence somehow.

It is worth it to explore what the Cavs are going to look like without having Love in the starting lineup, and there are a couple of different possibilities. For one thing, it could facilitate making them "smaller," with just one big man, if any, and that might allow them to switch more efficiently on defense. Also remember that Love was not a defensive asset, so they could be better overall on that end.

And along those lines, when Cleveland had to have Love out there, it made things potentially easier for Al Horford's offensive game, but if Tristan Thompson is focused on Horford, that is a matchup the Celtics have to sweat a little. With a smaller lineup, which presumably would be matched by Boston coach Brad Stevens, LeBron may have more of an opportunity to penetrate. And Cleveland can also get bigger, by putting Larry Nance Jr. out there with Thompson, and somewhere in that mix the Cavs are going to have a toughness edge up front - reflected in the rebounding numbers.

It may also be worth noting that on the "per 100 possessions" scale, the Cavs have been outscored by 7.4 points with Love on the floor for them in this series. Maybe we can chalk that up to that whole thing about necessity being the mother of invention.

Can any of this serve to overcome the Celtics' perceived advantage at home? Remember the flip side, which is that if Boston doesn't have to worry about Love, they can concentrate more effort on LeBron. At the same time, also remember that this is the three-time defending East champions we're talking about.

And finally - and most importantly - remember what Lue said about having "the baddest dude on the planet." We'll take the points.

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