Golden State Warriors vs Boston Celtics betting tips and predictions for Thursday’s NBA Finals Game 1 on ABC. The Boston Celtics are on the road in the series opener against the Golden State Warriors as the NBA Finals begin this Thursday at Chase Center. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Golden State Warriors
Getting to the NBA Finals for the 6th time in 8 seasons wasn’t easy, but the Golden State Warriors are here having lost just 4 times in 16 games. Taking care of business in the Conference finals against Dallas in just 5 games will definitely benefit them fatigue wise as they are a much more experienced team than the Celtics. Speaking of experience, this team has a combined 123 games played in the NBA Finals compared to 0 by the Celtics and that’s one of the key advantages they will have in this series.
They also have Stephen Curry on their team, he is coming off winning the Western Conference Finals MVP award and is searching for his 1st NBA Finals award. Golden State is yet to lose at home in these playoffs, they’ve won 11 straight at Chase Center. Coming into Thursday’s game they are also 5-1 ATS/SU in their last 6 games.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics needed 7 games in back-to-back series to get to this point, but nobody is questioning the quality this team possess. They’ve been arguably the toughest defensive team to score on over the past 4 or 5 months of the season and that will be their main calling card in these Finals. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are reliable options on offence, but it’ll come down to the play of DPOY Marcus Smart and other role players.
Boston has covered the spread in 12 of 17 games, they are also 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 vs Golden State and interestingly enough they are the only team to have a winning record against the Warriors dating back to the 1st championship the Warriors won in the Stephen Curry era. Celtics are 7-3 SU in the last 10 head-to-head, so people shouldn’t write them off in this series despite what the oddsmakers are predicting.
Game 1 is usually a feel out game and with the extra rest advantage I’m going to have to back the home team. They are yet to lose a home game in the postseason, so winning by 4 points should be doable against a Celtics team that played all 7 games vs Miami and had to travel across the country before Game 1 of the Finals. Take the Warriors.
Golden State Warriors vs Boston Celtics Predictions & Odds
The Boston vs Miami series wasn’t the prettiest to watch from an offensive standpoint, but I’m expecting things to change for the Celtics in this series against a Warriors team that likes to play a free flowing game against almost everyone they face. Even the low scoring Dallas Mavericks scored 100 or more points in 4 of the 5 games against them, so Boston should have a slightly easier time getting buckets compared to the Miami series. That doesn’t mean the Warriors defense is bad, they just like to play at a faster tempo offensively.
Boston has put up 110 and 107 points in the 2 regular season meetings, while the Warriors had 111 in Game 1 played in Boston and just 88 in Game 2 played in San Francisco – but that was only because Stephen Curry got injured in that game. An average of 213.8 points per game were scored in the last 10 meetings between these teams and although the under has cashed 8 times during that stretch, I feel like Game 1 will be a high scoring affair. Let’s back the points.
