Bettors become big Celtics fans

The NBA will play its final regular-season games tonight and the Boston Celtics are in good position to take home the crown as the league’s best team against the spread.

Led by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, the Celtics have a 51-28-2 record against the point spread heading into tonight’s game against New Jersey.

At home this season, Boston is 24-15-1 against the point spread and on the road, the Celtics are 27-13-1.

Impressive betting numbers when you consider that since early December, many of the Celtics’ games have featured inflated point spreads.

One reason behind Boston’s success has been its domination over Eastern Conference teams. The Celtics are 11-3 against the spread in their last 14 games versus fellow conference opponents.

While Boston, 65-16 overall, leads Detroit Pistons and the Lakers in overall victories, the Celtics have different runners-up chasing them when it comes to winning against Las Vegas oddsmakers.

The next best two teams against the point spread? Try the New Orleans Hornets and Orlando Magic.

Heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Clippers, New Orleans sported a 49-29-2 record against the spread, which is only a six-win drop-off from the Hornets’ 55-25 overall record.

The Magic is another team that has done a good job of matching its success on the court with point-spread victories.

Orlando, 50-30 overall, had a 48-29-3 record against the spread heading into Tuesday night’s game at Atlanta.

In case you were wondering, Detroit, 57-23 overall heading into Tuesday’s game against Memphis, had a 43-36-1 record against the spread, while the Lakers 56-25 overall before Tuesday’s game against Sacramento, were 46-33-1 against the spread.

And what about the Miami Heat, with the league’s worst overall record at 14-67 heading into tonight’s game against the Hawks?

The Heat is 34-46-1 against the spread, which is not far off from the San Antonio Spurs, who are 36-43-2 against the spread but 55-26 overall heading into tonight’s game against Utah.

Pro Hockey

While a couple of NHL first-round series seem to be headed for seven games, the Pittsburgh Penguins will attempt to complete a four-game sweep over the Ottawa Senators tonight.

The Penguins are favored at -155 to defeat the Senators (+145) at Scotiabank Place. Pittsburgh, which opened as a -320 favorite to win the series, is 10-3 in its last 13 games as a favorite of -151 to -200, according to Covers.com. Ottawa, which had the best record in the Eastern Conference for much of the regular season, is 0-7 in its last seven games against a team with a winning record.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com