Playoff Draws and the Celtics Heat Up

Only three of the previous 19 Championship Playoff Finals had ended as Draws, but two of those were in matches where the Draw price was on the short side, i.e. shorter than a fair priced 3.35. 

The game yesterday between Luton Town and Coventry City had the shortest Draw price ever for a neutral play-off game with today's Carlisle United v Stockport County game looking likely to make that 'short' list too, below and sorted by Draw price:

Again, a reminder that it's a small sample for these games, and when backing the draw you will lose more often than you'll win.  

Another small sample is the number of NBA teams which have come from 0-3 behind in a best-of-seven playoff series, but it's a number that increased by one to four last night with the Boston Celtics doing just that against the Miami Heat, and in dramatic style with the winning basket scored with just 0.1 second remaining on the clock. 

The clubs to have came back from the dead before all lost in game 7, but all three were on the road in that game, whereas the Boston Celtics will be at home and are 1.28 favourites to win.

The other Game 7 losers? In 1951, the New York Knicks lost in the NBA Finals in Rochester to the Rochester Royals - who later became the Cincinnati Royals, the Kansas City Kings and are the current Sacramento Kings.

In 1994, the Denver Nuggets lost to the Utah Jazz in the second round and in 2003 the Portland Trail Blazers lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.

The winners tomorrow (Monday) night will play the Nuggets in the Finals starting on Thursday.

There may be a similar comeback on the cards in the NHL playoffs where the Florida Panthers await either the Dallas Stars or the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals. Vegas won the first three games of their series, two in overtime) before Dallas won games 4 and 5. Game 6 is in Dallas and in necessary, Game 7 in Las Vegas.