PHOENIX, AZ - The Boston Celtics staged a dramatic late fourth quarter rally last Monday to beat the seven point spread and lose to the Phoenix Suns, 106-110. Trailing by twelve points with four minutes remaining, the Celtics managed to trim the deficit to just four points by the time the clock had run out.
The Celtics managed to turn around their fortunes during a time-out. "Coach Pitino got in our faces and said that the game was over, but if we were professionals then we would go out and take the game back and beat the spread," noted Celtic forward Antoine Walker. Walker contributed 23 points to the Celtics spread-busting loss, including a dunk in the last minute, cutting the deficit to four, which the Celtics managed to maintain despite efforts by the Suns to get back the seven plus point lead.
Suns Coach Scott Skiles was frustrated by his team's lack of commitment to beating the spread late in the game, "Some guys seem to be content with just winning the game. But as far as I am concerned that isn't good enough. When we have the spread beaten I want to keep it there. There is no excuse for this."
Suns guard Anfernee Hardaway echoed the coach's sentiments, "If you aren't dedicated to beating the spread posted by the Vegas bookmakers, then why bother playing at all?"
In Las Vegas, those who make the spreads are quick to take some of the blame themselves.
"Hey, maybe we just need to set the spread a little differently for the Suns, now that we know that they likely will let it just slip away," Harrod's bookmaker Adrian LaRaoche said.
But Skiles wasn't about to let his players off so easily, "Look they could set the spread at two points and we still wouldn't beat it with the effort I am getting late in these games."
The victory for Phoenix their third straight game of missing the spread, one of their worst stretches of the season.
©2000 Copyright David Oliver
DISCLAIMER: These stories are not true. No really. It's all just a joke, you know for fun.
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