REVIEW-JOURNAL
If the injury reports on Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal are real, the big man won't be his usual bullying self in the Eastern Conference finals.
O'Neal's bruised right thigh has slowed him considerably in the NBA playoffs and stopped him from playing in two games. He is expected to start today's series opener against the Detroit Pistons.
Miami is a 4-point home favorite over Detroit in Game 1 and a minus-135 favorite to win the best-of-7 series.
"That line is a reflection of a beat-up Shaq," Stardust sports book director Bob Scucci said. "It's real tricky because we know O'Neal is not 100 percent."
Despite the big question mark following O'Neal's status, handicapper Jorge Gonzalez said he picks the Heat to win the series in six games.
Gonzalez (vegaswise.com) said O'Neal will be looking for redemption after the Pistons rolled over his Los Angeles Lakers in five games in last year's NBA Finals.
"The thing with Shaq is he has to motivate himself. I think he will be ready for this series," Gonzalez said.
"Miami matches up at every position and has the deepest bench in the NBA. A championship team has good role players, and everybody on the Heat understands their roles."
O'Neal has averaged 18 points in six playoff games. When Detroit eliminated the Lakers last year, O'Neal averaged 26.6 points and 10.8 rebounds while being defended one-on-one by Ben Wallace.
Dwyane Wade has averaged 28.6 points to carry the Heat to an 8-0 postseason record. The Pistons' defense will present Wade with more of a challenge.
"I really think the biggest difference is Wade becoming the superstar of the league," Gonzalez said.
The total for today's game is 182. In the three regular-season meetings between Detroit and Miami, the teams scored an average total of 158 points with a high of 167.
Scucci said he also would side with the Heat, which was a 10-1 shot to win the NBA title last summer after trading for O'Neal and opened the playoffs at 3-1 odds.
"The moment they got Shaq, money started coming in on the Heat to win the championship," Scucci said. "The starting five for Detroit is good, but I really think Miami has better players and a deeper bench. I'm of the opinion that the Heat is a more cohesive team than last year's Lakers."
In the Western Conference finals, San Antonio opened a minus-145 series favorite over Phoenix. The Spurs won Sunday's opener 121-114, far surpassing the total of 207.
"It's a really good matchup, and in terms of money, it's about dead even on both sides," said Scucci, adding that the Eastern Conference series "is drawing more attention than Spurs-Suns."
