You might look at the Brooklyn Nets' 115-114 loss to the Boston Celtics as kind of a victory; of course, BetOnline patrons who took the Nets and the points were a winner.

Now let's see if Brooklyn can actually pull even in the series. The game tips off at 7 PM ET at the TD Garden.

The Nets actually shot close to 54% from the field in Game 1, but one of their problems is that they got a sub par performance out of Kevin Durant.

Of course, he got a little "help" in that respect from the Celtics, who tailored a defensive approach that made him force shots from places on the floor that he didn't want to be. He made nine of his 24 attempts (37.5%) and earned himself only five chances at the line.

The rest of the Nets hit 61%, and that included a dozen field goals from Kyrie Irving. This is the problem when trying to cover this Brooklyn crew - Irving can burn teams, and so can Seth Curry (only one triple in Game 1), if you want to overdo things with Durant.

The Celts were thought to be a little thin up front with the dynamic Robert Williams unavailable, so it was time for Al Horford to show up again and put forth another big playoff effort. Horford had 20 points 15 rebounds playing over 41 minutes from the power forward spot.

In the NBA playoff lines that have been posted at BetOnline on Game 2, the Celtics are the favorites:

Boston Celtics -3 (-115)
Brooklyn Nets +3 (-105)

Over 226 Points -110
Under 226 Points -110

The Celts have to be very formidable in the paint, because the Nets have people who can attack the basket. That not only includes Durant, but people off the bench like Patty Mills and Goran Dragic. This is a different crew than Steve Nash expected to have come playoff time; James Harden got traded, as you know, and there are injuries that have impacted the people who remained.

One of those is Ben Simmons, who has not been able to suit up for the Nets yet after coming over in the Harden trade from Philadelphia. But there are noted absences among the veterans.

Neither Blake Griffin nor LaMarcus Aldridge saw action in Game 1, and Aldridge was left out of the rotation entirely in the latter part of the season. But you know, the Nets got beat up pretty thoroughly on the boards by the Celts in Game 1, by a 43-29 margin, and they gave up 14 offensive rebounds. Steve Nash insists that he's not looking to match up in terms of pure size with Boston, because he believes that will compromise the pace the Nets want to play at and the spacing they can get in the half-court setting. So you might expect that it will be an uphill battle competing in the paint.

But a guy like Durant isn't held down for very long. If Nash can succeed in designing something to get him better shots, Brooklyn will be able to compensate for the size problem and give Boston enough headaches to even this thing up.

BetOnline has all you'll need to enjoy NBA playoff betting in style...... With a lot of options, including those from Prop Builder, you won't lack for action. And don't forget that with Odds Boosters, you get championship-level payouts on pre-selected parlays!