Celtics vs. Heat Betting Trends: How Scott Foster Affects Game 7 of NBA Eastern Conference Finals (May 29)

Celtics vs. Heat Odds

*Odds as of Sunday afternoon via FanDuel

Another playoff game, another trend story that involves referee Scott Foster.

The longtime NBA ref will lace up for Sunday's Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and Heat.

We've covered his checkered history with Chris Paul and James Harden in the past, but the details aren't particularly relevant here because they aren't participants. The crux is that when Foster officiates Paul and Harden's games in the postseason, historic trends indicate you should fade their teams.

For Game 7, Foster's impact is far more ambiguous.

Foster has refereed 11 Game 7s since 2010. In those games, the favorite has gone 7-4 against the spread, enough for a $100 bettor to have profited $236. That's a return on investment of 21 percent.

However, the Heat have gone 3-0 straight up and 3-0 ATS when Foster has officiated their Game 7s since 2010. All of those contests have also been at home. Another factor pointing toward the Heat is that teams coming off of a loss entering Game 7 are 3-8 ATS when Foster is listed as the referee.

Of course, these trends have occurred over a very small sample size and have several other external factors that have affected the game's end result. Make sure to develop your own thesis rather than blindly tailing these ATS trends.

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