The NBA Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks starting on June 6th is highly anticipated.
The Celtics are listed as middling -210 favorites to win the championship on DraftKings and have been a force to be reckoned with in the NBA so far: They had the best regular season record in the league and have made a relatively easy run through the playoffs thanks to injuries.
There’s a lot to take note of here, especially Luka Doncic, who profiles as the best player on both teams, but the Mavericks are still pretty big underdogs at +180 odds.
Kyrie Irving will also be returning to his old home in Boston, TD Garden.
but, FanSided’s Reed Wallach As they point out, Irving is 0-10 against the Celtics since his controversial departure, shooting just 42 percent from the field and 29 percent from three-point range.
He’ll have some extremely tough matchups ahead of him, with July Holiday and Derrick White expected to hound him every second of every game.
The same goes for Doncic, who will have to contend with the defensive prowess of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
The Celtics are expected to have some value in this matchup, and -210 seems like a fair price. I expect Boston to win this series, but it could be a long one.
Mavericks vs Celtics NBA Finals Predictions
In my preview of the Pacers vs. Celtics series, I bet Holiday at 100/1 that he would lead the series in three-pointers made. Holiday made 10, Tatum 11, just one three-pointer behind. It was a very close call.
The odds that Holiday will be the leading 3-point shooter in this NBA Finals are 30/1, which is just not worth it.
You may remember that in Game 1 of the Celtics vs. Pacers, he faded steal and block props from Myles Turner, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. The Celtics won at incredible rates because they barely had any blocked shots and no turnovers.
The same could be said for this series, but the Mavericks were a little better at keeping the ball in their grasp than the Pacers during the regular season.
Boston is allowing opponents 4.9 steals per game in the playoffs while the Mavericks are allowing opponents 7.0 steals per game.
Doncic has been a big part of this, as he’s lost the ball four times per game, by far the most on the team.
Brown is his projected opponent and the favorite to lead the series in steals at +350, which makes sense considering he also averages the most steals per game.
However, Brown played 11 minutes, 15 seconds against Doncic during this year’s regular season.
Brown was unable to force a turnover from Doncic during that stretch, with the Mavericks star shooting just 40 percent from the field and 0-for-1 from three-point range.
Do you bet on the NBA?
It’s not a large sample size, but I’m willing to bet Holiday forces Doncic into more turnovers than any other player other than Jaden McDaniels when facing him in 2022-23. NBA statistics.
The Celtics and another Holiday prop are in the running to help the Celtics win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Pick: Celtics -1.5 (+100, BetMGM) | Jrue Holiday leads series in steals +400 (Bet365)
