Beware of the Underdog: Celtics Eyeing NBA Playoff History in Tonight’s Game 4

The Highlights

• Boston has won the first three games of its series with Phildelphia as an underdog.
• Boston is a 6.5-point underdog in Game 4.
• No team in NBA history has swept a playoff series as an underdog in each game.

With a 3-0 series lead, the Boston Celtics are 6-point underdogs against the Philadelphia 76ers in tonight's Game 4 (6 p.m. ET). Barring any major news and monumental line movement, Boston will close as an underdog for the fourth straight game.

Should the C's finish off the Sixers tonight, it will mark the first time a team has swept its way through an NBA postseason series as an underdog in every game since we started tracking this data in 1991.

Not to mention the Celtics shot at history: if Boston closes out the Sixers, winning the clinching game as an underdog, the C's could become the 3rd team over the last 20 years to win a playoff series as an underdog in every single one of its wins, joining the 2011 Hawks, who beat the Magic in six games and the 2007 Warriors, who beat the Mavericks in six games. Both Atlanta and Golden State accomplished the feat in the first round, while Boston, as the lower seed, is trying to accomplish the feat with a trip to the Conference Final on the line.

Below is a list of the closing lines and results for the first three games of this series:

Not only were the Celtics the best against-the-spread (ATS) team during the regular season at 50-30-2 (62.5%), but Boston is also rewarding postseason bettors with an 8-2 ATS record heading into tonight's Game 4.

Top Photo: Boston Celtics forward Al Horford (L) reacts with forward Jayson Tatum (0) after a victory against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3 of the second round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs