NBA Finals Betting: Trends Say Take The Celtics Plus Money

The Boston Celtics have +130 odds to beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
The Celtics have the best record of any team against the Warriors since Steve Kerr took over at 9-7.

BOSTON – The NBA Finals are set and the Boston Celtics will be going up against the Golden State Warriors for their 22nd appearance in the Finals for a chance at their 18th NBA Championship.

Legal betting sites are favoring the Warriors to come out on top, however, the Celtics have some trends leaning their way.

Golden State Warriors Vs. Boston Celtics Series Price

Golden State Warriors -150
Boston Celtics +130

In the current postseason, the Celtics already have a major stat in their favor over Golden State which is the point differential. Boston has a +110 differential compared to the Warriors +87 differential.

Boston Thriving Against Steve Kerr

The first major trend comes with the Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr. Kerr was appointed the head coach of the Warriors back in the 2014-15 season and has run with opportunity ever since having been to six NBA Finals and winning three of them.

Since Kerr took over the Warriors head coaching job, no other team has had a better record against them than the Boston Celtics (9-7). The C’s have been on a roll recently though against Golden State having won six of their last seven meetings.

The Jimmy Butler Success Story

The Celtics most recent win in the playoffs came against Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals which came down to Game 7. While that series is in the past, it is worth noting that the last two NBA Champions have defeated Jimmy Butler and Miami as a part of their journey.

In the 2019-20 season, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated Butler in the Finals in the bubble, and in 2020-21, the Milwaukee Bucks swept Miami in the first round to jump start their championship run. With the Celtics taking down Miami, they could extend this championship streak to 3.

Defense Wins Championships

The Celtics have taken the saying “Defense wins Championships” seriously as their last title came in 2008 when Kevin Garnett was crowned the Defensive Player of the Year with 90 first-place votes. Back then, the Celtis were also second in the league in points allowed per game at just 90.3.

Fast track to 2022, Celtics guard, Marcus Smart, has won the award and has helped lead Boston to a league-leading defense only allowing 104.5 ppg to opponents.

That said, Boston odds to win the NBA Finals might be longer than they would’ve liked, but signs are pointing towards them coming out on top.

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Sam Profeta

Samuel has been writing professionally for 4 years. He comes from a sports writing background where he enjoys writing mostly about basketball and football both professional and collegiate. He is a recent graduate of Florida State University where he majored in Editing, Writing and Media with a minor in Communications. During his free time, you can find him watching or playing sports as well as playing videogames and listening to music.