News: Garnett out for Tuesday, Jackson may be missing as well

If you’re looking to bet on sports, and specifically the NBA playoffs, there could be acouple of interesting absences that would change the way you make your wager.

On Tuesday night in Boston, the Celtics will try to take a 2-0 series lead over Miami after an 85-76 win, but they’ll have to do it without Kevin
Garnett as the future Hall of Famer has been suspended. Late in Game 1, Miami’s Quentin Richardson got into it with Boston’s Paul Pierce, who
apparently injured his shoulder. Garnett says Richardson was trash talking, and in the ensuing pushing-and-shoving, Garnett caught Richardson with an errant elbow. Garnett is a huge piece of a Boston defense that held the Heat to 39.7% from the floor in Game 1, and the Heat should find it easier to get into the lane now.

Charlotte lost their first-ever playoff game on Sunday against Orlando, but even more important, Stephen Jackson sat out the last eight minutes  of the fourth quarter due to a knee injury. Jackson, who came to Charlotte early in the season from Golden State, is the Bobcats’ best two-way player as he leads them in scoring, but he’s also a stellar defensive player who can guard anyone from a point guard to a power forward. Losing Jackson would surely hurt the Bobcats’ NBA playoff odds, which aren’t that good for the first around anyway as they face the team that represented the East in last year’s NBA Finals.