Signup Today at @ BetUS Sportsbook & Get a 100% Signup Bonus
New BetUS Players Only: Must Mention Bankroll Sports at BetUS & Use This Link!
(Must Use Above Link – $100 Min. / $500 Max. – Also Get A 50% Bonus On ALL Reloads)

It’s playoff time once again for the men of the hardwood and on the ice! Here at Bankroll Sports, we’re still taking our best shots at the teams, players, and situations that really cost us sports bettors in a big way in the week that was.

Rap Sheet Picture of the Week
Montreal Canadiens G Jaroslav Halak, who blew a three goal lead and gave up this game-winner 31 seconds into overtime.

All of the home teams in the NHL playoffs should be ashamed of themselves. Not a single one of the are hitting the road up two games this week. However, the team we really need to take a stab at right off the bat is the Montreal Canadiens. The rest of the NHL hates you right now, Montreal. After all, the Habs were up 1-0 in the series after stealing Game 1 at the Verizon Center, and they held a 4-1 lead following LW Andrei Kostitsyn’s third goal of the game with just over two minutes to play in the second period. G Jose Theodore had already been ran out of the game and replaced by G Semyon Varlamov, and the Habs looked primed to take a 2-0 lead back to the Great White North. Not so fast, my friends. They were outscored 4-1 during the next 20 minutes of hockey, and then just 31 ticks into the overtime, C Nicklas Backstrom connected for the game-winner, his third goal of the game. Enjoy being bounced from this series in five games, Montreal. You had your chance to slay the giants in the playoffs, and now you’re going to pay the ultimate price for not succeeding.

Give it up for Jason Marquis, ladies and gentlemen! The right-hander has been an absolutely abortion of a signing for the Nationals on the outset of this season, as he has given up at least six earned runs in each of his starts and is 0-3 to show for it. On Sunday though, he had one of the more embarrassing starts that any pitcher has seen in this ’10 MLB betting campaign. Marquis gave up a single to Rickie Weeks, a single to Craig Counsell, a single to Ryan Braun, plunked Prince Fielder, walked Casey McGehee, plunked Jim Edmonds, and gave up a single to Gregg Zaun, and was promptly removed without recording an out. Seven batters faced. Seven batters scored. Solid job, Marquis. Your numbers for the year now? 8.1 innings pitched, 18 hits, 20 runs (19 earned), 2 HRs, 7 walks, 3 plunks, 3 strikeouts, a WHIP of 2.88, a batting average against of .419, and an ERA of 20.52. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Hey, Kevin Garnett, you haven’t cost us any money yet, but we totally see this one coming. For whatever reason, you decided to elbow G Quentin Richardson in the face with 40 seconds to play in a game in which your Celtics stormed back from a 61-47 deficit halfway through the third quarter to win by nine. Now, the NBA’s sheriff, Commissioner David Stern, is inevitably going to suspend you for Game 2 of this series (if not longer). Isn’t your team already woeful enough at home with you in the lineup that you can’t afford to take yourself out of a playoff game for no good reason? C’mon KG, you’re better than this.

NBA Playoffs Betting Bonus Offer Available Exclusively From Bankroll Sports
Click Here For An Exclusive 100% Bonus (Credit Cards Accepted) @ JustBet!

Remember a few years ago when the Boston Celtics were considered the “feel good champs” in the NBA? After all, F Kevin Garnett finally got his ring after all of those years mired in one of basketball’s many purgatories with the Minnesota Timberwolves, F Paul Pierce was finally recognized as one of the true warriors in the game, G Ray Allen was now an East Coast hero after being a Seattle send off that almost always flew under the radar, and other role players like G Rajon Rondo and F Glen Davis were just generally loved.

Now, the C’s are nothing more than the bad boys of the NBA that we can’t wait to see get knocked out of the playoffs.

One thing is for certain, and that’s that this team is becoming a lot like the Detroit Pistons both of the Chuck Daly era and the Larry Brown era. This Boston squad isn’t afraid to bloody you up a bit and smack you right in the mouth to get their point across.

Unfortunately, KG took that mantra a wee bit too seriously on Saturday night.

The term “flipping the switch” was heard in the Boston locker room for the entire second half of the season. The Celtics went 27-27 in their final 54 games of the year, which is hardly acceptable for a team that was the most feared in the NBA over the L/2 seasons. After falling behind 14 points halfway through the third quarter in their Game 1 of the NBA playoffs against the Miami Heat, the proverbial switch was flipped.

Boston was fantastic over the next 19 minutes of play, outscoring the Heat by a whopping 23 points in that stretch to win the game going away. The switch has been flipped.

However, that same switch might’ve been flipped for Miami as well, and it had nothing to do with the basketball going into the net.

Garnett threw an elbow at G Quentin Richardson with 40 seconds to play in the game that earned him a pair of technical fouls and an immediate ejection. Commissioner David Stern is likely to suspend Garnett for at least Game 2 on Tuesday night, if not Game 3 in Miami on Friday as well.

Richardson responded after the game by referring to both Garnett and Pierce as “actresses.”

One thing is for certain though, and that’s that Miami is going to be ready to go regardless of whether KG is a part of the action in Game 2 or not. The Heat were nearly 3-1 underdogs to win this series at the outset of it. All action is off the board at all of the sportsbooks due to the potentially pending suspension.

Regardless of what the odds say about this series, you can bet that Miami has already taken Boston’s best shot and will be ready to take aim at the second round of the playoffs.

It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to cross the Beatles with the NBA, but as I was scrolling through the box scores and game recaps from Tuesday night’s games, I noticed that the Boston Celtics found a way to scrap out a ‘W’ to get back into the win column against the Detroit Pistons. F Paul Pierce was back in the lineup, and in spite of the fact that he only scored nine points in a rather dismal personal effort, I had to think to myself, “Hmm… I wonder if Pierce wasn’t there if the C’s would’ve won this game?”

**Click Here For The World’s Greatest Basketball Betting System**

Let’s face it. Things haven’t been going so well in Beantown of late for the champs of two years ago. Boston is still in third place in the Eastern Conference, but it seems to be lagging well behind the Orlandos and Clevelands of this world. The Celtics are only 16-11 on their home court, and a woeful 6-20-1 ATS in those 27 games to boot.

Heading into the game against New Jersey just three nights ago, HC Doc Rivers hung a new sign in the locker room: “INDIVIDUALS WIN GAMES BUT TEAMS WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS.”

Nice motivation, Coach. All your team did that day was lose to arguably the worst team in the history of the NBA on your own home court 104-96.

Pierce was out of the lineup that day nursing his injured thumb.

Enter: The Beatles.

Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone… Help!

Help arrived at the Palace of Auburn Hills when Pierce came back into the lineup a game after his team suffered the ultimately embarrassment. No one else would do. It had to be Pierce, the only player on this team that has grown up in green, to provide the help.

Now, here’s the next question: Was this just an average win against a lousy club, or was that 105-100 win at Detroit the start of something really great for the Celtics?

Methinks it’s the latter.

Finally, Boston is on the verge of being completely healthy, something that it hasn’t really been in months. C Kendrick Perkins is the only snag right now, but his flu will go away eventually, and he’ll be just fine. But it’s been awhile since this entire team has come out on the same court unified as one. It may or may not happen at home on Wednesday night against the Bobcats, but assuming that nothing else goes wrong in that game, the C’s should be at full strength just in time for one of the easiest stretches of games left in the season.

The Celtics are about to embark on a five-game stretch in which they play the 76ers, Wizards, Bucks, Grizzlies, and Pacers.

When together, it’s pretty clear that Boston should have one of the best teams in the NBA. Just throwing three future Hall of Famers in G Ray Allen, F Kevin Garnett, and the aforementioned Pierce on the court at the same time is awfully impressive. Throw in one of the NBA’s best point guards in Rajon Rondo and a bench that prides itself on defense, and the recipe is right for a championship.

Rivers is right about one thing: Teams win championships.

However, what he failed to mention is that every single individual has to be giving his all to the team for the team to function.

Everyone may be leaving them for dead, but now that the Boston Celtics are back at full strength, the championship could once again be within their reach.

The NBA All-Star Game tips off on Sunday night at the brand new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in “Big D.” Basketball’s brightest stars all come together in this fantastic spectacle between the best in the Eastern Conference and the best in the Western Conference. Bankroll Sports takes a moment to look at the odds for and predict the All-Star Game MVP, which is a job that has become a lot harder since last year’s winner and three-time All-Star Game MVP, G Kobe Bryant won’t be playing in the game. Last season’s co-MVP C Shaquille O’Neal didn’t make the Eastern Conference roster.