NBA FINALS PREVIEW
BOSTON at GOLDEN STATE
LINE: WARRIORS -160 (Series Price)
GAME 1 LINE: Warriors -3.5
GAME 1 TOTAL: 212.5
The NBA Finals begin on Thursday night, and we have a special offer available on our Daily Access Pass as just 99 Dollars gets you every single play we release in the Finals, whether it be a side or total. Here for the preview, we will give you who we feel will win the series.
Let’s start with the obvious. Golden State comes into Game 1 on a 7-day layoff and over the last 2 series they have played 11 games compared to 14 that Boston had to play. We feel this is a great advantage for the Warriors seeing how they were able to rest up and get healthy while Boston was fighting for their life on Sunday night and then had to travel across the country. This is the first time in 11 weeks that Boston will be playing on West Coast time too so there is always an adjustment for that.
Where Boston has the advantage in this series is their length, especially on defense. They are one of the few teams in the league that really have no problem guarding positions 1 through 5. We know Boston is a tough defense but what has gone overlooked is Golden State was the 2nd ranked defense in the NBA this season, behind Boston. So, it’s not like the Warriors are a bad defensive team however, they do not have the size that Boston has. However, Boston hasn’t really had to play a team as good and as deep offensively as the Warriors are. The Nets have 2 stars but really nothing after that. Milwaukee lost Middleton which greatly hurt them in that series and Miami lost Herro and had Oladipo and Lowry playing with injuries. The Warriors have 4 guys that can easily give you 20 on any given night in Curry, Thompson, Poole and Wiggins plus an all-around player in Green. So, they’ll present challenges for Boston, but Boston will also present challenges defensively as well.
Golden State is 9-0 at the Chase Center this postseason and they have won those 9 games by an average of 14.5 points per game. Boston is just 5-4 at home this postseason and you would think to win this series, they’d have to win 2 games at the Chase Center because Golden State will win 1 on the road, especially seeing how Boston isn’t playing well at the TD Garden.
Player matchups will obviously be interesting. For Boston to stay in this series and win it, defensive player of the year Marcus Smart will have to slow Steph Curry and while he can do that, we must remember he is still nursing an ankle injury. With all the running Steph does off screens, this will be a tough assignment for Smart and one he must win for the Celtics to pull the upset.
Guarding Thompson and Poole will not be easy for the Celtics as the Warriors have many people that can score. Now, the Celtics have guys who can score as well but the guy who must be great offensively for them to win is Jayson Tatum. See, the Warriors can still win if Curry gets outplayed, the Celtics cannot win if Tatum isn’t great.
Wiggins will draw the main defensive assignment on him and while everyone is saying he did a good job on Luka Doncic, he really didn’t. Luka shot 51% in the Western Conference Finals with Wiggins as his primary defender. That said, if Wiggins outplays Tatum, its series over for the Celtics.
We do believe that Boston had the way tougher road to the Finals as the Warriors caught some breaks with Morant being hurt in the 2nd round and then missing Phoenix all together in the Conference Finals. But that could also work against Boston as well because they could be worn down.
Game 1 will tell a lot about how this series will go. If Boston bothers Golden State with their length and physical play, they have a shot to win this series. If Golden State gets whatever they want on offense and looks like the fresher team, it could be a short series.
Our research says both could happen in this series and that it will be a hard-fought Finals. Because of that our series free pick will be Golden State in 7.
TakingVegas.com 1* NBA Finals Series Free Pick: Warriors -160 / Warriors in 7 +300
Don’t forget to grab the Daily Access Pass for just 99 Dollars and that will get you every single play we release during the NBA Finals. We will have a pick on every game and sometimes a pick on the total with a potential parlay.
