Game Time: 9:00 PM ET, Sunday, June 5th, 2022 

Venue:   Chase Center, San Francisco, California  

Where to Watch:  ABC

DraftKings:  Warriors -4; O/U 215.5

Fanduel:  Warriors -4; O/U 215.5

BetMGM: Warriors -4.5; O/U 215.5

Celtics: 51-31, 2nd place Eastern Conference; 1-0 in the Finals

Warriors: 53-29, 3rd place Western Conference; 0-1 in the Finals

Game 1 of the NBA Finals is in the Books and it was a shocker!  The Boston Celtics won Game 1 of the Finals with a final score of 120-108! Game 2 is coming and the Sportsbooks are scrambling to get the point spread right.  The Boston Celtics proved that they are never out of a game.  The Golden State Warriors proved that they had an easier road to the Finals than the Celtics did and they will have to step up.  My connection in Vegas tells me that money was on the Warriors to win and cover by a 3 to 1 margin… The whole betting world outside of Boston had money riding on the Warriors… and now Vegas is flush with fresh cash. I made exactly the same mistake as everyone else… I gave bonus points for home court advantage, which is now gone.  I gave bonus points for Finals experience, which is now out the window.  I gave bonus points for roster depth, but I may have been wrong.  What we all should have noticed is that the Celtics have a real size and length advantage.  It’s real and it covers nearly every position on the court.

The Boston Celtics got a little lost in the first quarter.  They went through the motions as Warriors legend Steph Curry hit 6 1st quarter 3-pointers.  The Warriors started pulling away early and built a 10-11 point lead that was reached multiple times in the first half…. But the Celtics have an ace in the hole… The Celtics were this season, and are now, the best defense in the NBA.  PG Marcus Smart, PF Al Horford, and Center Robert Williams get stops.  They are a defensive spine that supports superstar players SF Jayson Tatum and SG Jaylen Brown… who are themselves excellent two-way players.  The Celtics played from behind for 90% of the game… Then in the 4th quarter they turned it on big time.  The trailing problem may have been that Celtics star SF Jayson Tatum had a terrible game… he shot 3 of 17 from the field.  More of that alligator arm problem he had in Game 7 of the Conference Finals against the Heat.  Tatum however refused to not affect the game and promptly piled in 13 assists.  The star of the show was actually PF Al Horford… who in 16 NBA seasons is finally in his first Finals game.  Horford had 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.  He knocked down 6 of 8 3-point shots!  Horford was a dynamo.  SG Jaylen Brown was MR 4th Quarter as he poured in 24 points for the game with half of them coming in the 4th.  PG Marcus Smart and backup guard Derrick White proved that the hole left by Steph Curry’s bad defense was worth 39 combined points!  The Celtics trailed for most of the game and then won comfortably while pulling off a late 4th quarter 17-2 run.  

The Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made a drastic mistake.  The advice “Dance with the one that brought you”... isn’t just a cautionary tale told to confused teens about respect.  It’s also something that should be closely inspected by hall of fame basketball coaches.  Steve Kerr played Andre Igoudala for 12 key first half minutes… while Forward Jonathan Kuminga logged only 48 seconds of game time?!!!  Igoudala has plenty of history with the Warriors Championship teams… but he barely played this season and has not played in these playoffs.  The team was instantly less athletic… It was instantly OLD.  It represents 12 lost minutes. Andre Igoudala didn’t play terribly… but we will never know how much better that lead could have been if the Warriors were more athletic during the game.  PG Steph Curry did his part… He had 34 points 5 rebounds and 5 assists.  F Andrew Wiggins had 20 points and 3 big Blocked Shots, F Draymond Green 5 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists.  The others, including Klay Thompson, were simply not good enough.  Hopefully for Game 2 Kuminga will get in the game and Andre will advise from the sidelines… also maybe they Warriors should attack the basket early to try and get a few trips to the foul line.  The Celtics are going to muscle the Warriors all the way through this series… without foul trouble… The Warriors will not get any relief.

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Boston is 63-37 on the season, but 56-42-2 ATS.  They have logged 48 Over, 50 Under, and 2 Push.  They are 30-20 in road games.

Golden State is 64-33 on the season, but 50-44-4 ATS.  They have notched 45 Over, 51 Under, and 2 Push.  They are 39-10 in home games.

Boston is 12th in scoring with 111.8 points per game, 5th in rebounds with 46.1 per game, and 11th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8.  On defense they Rank FIRST while holding opponents to 104.5 ppg… and blocking 5.8 shots per game (2nd in the league)

Warriors: The Warriors are 15th in the league in scoring with 111.0 points per game, 7th in rebounds with 45.5 per game, and 12th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8.  On defense they rank 3rd in the league while allowing 105.5 ppg from opponents.  

 

Our prediction for Sunday, June 5th is…..    Warriors 118 - Celtics 109

The Warriors will adjust.  They absolutely need Game 2 of this series or it will all be over.  A fatal flaw of Game 1 was that they routinely avoided pushing the Celtics when they had a 10+ point lead.  If you are up by ten… don’t sit Steph… don’t sit Klay… Instead, inject Kuminga and Poole and try to go up by 15.  The solution for the Boston defense is MORE Warriors offense and Steve Kerr knows that.  You will see a different Warriors team in Game 2.  You also most likely will not see many more 26 point games from PF Al Horford of the Celtics (though he is a great guy to root for).

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3 of 3 games played at Golden State in this latchup have gone UNDER the last 3 seasons.

Boston is 5-1 against Golden State ATS the last 3 seasons.

Boston is 32-16 ATS in road games this season.

Golden State is 47-26 ATS when revenging a same season loss 

Boston:  Everyone is available

Golden State: Everyone is available though PG Gary Payton II will probably still sit out.

Celtics: SF Jayson Tatum, PF Al Horford, C Robert Williams III, SFG Jaylen Brown, PG Marcus Smart

Warriors: SF Klay Thompson, PF Andrew Wiggins, C Draymond Green, SG Jordan Poole, PG Stephen Curry

Celtics: Ime “Best defense is my doing!” Udoka

Warriors: Steve “Another season, another Finals” Kerr