The NBA Finals are finally upon us as we prepare to crown a new superstar in the league as the Dallas Mavericks take on the Boston Celtics to be crowned champions.
Superstar duo Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum are among the best players in the league but neither have ever won a championship, but that will change before the month is over in this seven-game series.
But who is the favorite and who is the in-form team? We’ll take a look at the series and provide you with our best free NBA betting picks to try and earn you some extra cash while you enjoy top level basketball.
Learn more about how to bet on the NBA Finals here.
Boston were most people’s favorites to be crowned NBA champions for the first time since 2008, and in the regular season they lived up to those expectations by accumulating a league-best record of 64-18 with just four defeats at home all season.
That gave them the top seed spot in the Eastern Conference, where their first playoff series came against the Miami Heat. A 20-point blowout in game 1 gave them a comfortable win before a surprise defeat in game 2 at home levelled the series. After that they cruised to victory with three straight wins though, sealing the series with a 34-point thrashing in game 5 at the TD Garden.
That set up a Conference semi-finals series against Cleveland Cavaliers where the series mirrored the first round. They dominated the first game before losing the second, and then cruised to three straight wins with Tatum top-scoring in all three matches to make the conference finals.
There they faced off against the Indiana Pacers, but this time Joe Mazzulla coached the perfect series as the Celtics swept their rivals aside to be crowned conference champions for a second time in three seasons.
Dallas added Kyrie Irving to their roster midway through the 2022/23 season, but this year he has finally clicked with Doncic and the Mavericks claimed a 50-32 record in the regular season which tied them for sixth best in the NBA.
That earned them the fifth seed in the Western Conference and set up a first-round series against the high-flying Los Angeles Clippers. Doncic hit 33 points and 13 rebounds in game 1 but Dallas fell to defeat, before bouncing back with wins in game 2 and game 3. Game 4 saw the Clippers win to level the series despite Irving hitting 40 points and Doncic getting a triple-double, before dominant wins in game 5 and 6 saw Dallas progress.
Next was a series against Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference semi-finals and the series mirrored the first-round, as they lost the first game before winning the next two and losing the fourth to see the score level at 2-2. Once again though, Doncic was the difference as he shone in game 5 and game 6 to progress through to the conference finals.
There they took on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference finals and head coach Jason Kidd almost executed a perfect game plan. Dallas claimed victory in each of the first three games, with Doncic hitting 32+ points every time, but Minnesota refused to be swept and claimed a five-point victory in game 4. However, home advantage meant nothing in game 5 as Doncic and Irving hit 36 points each to become conference champions for the first time since 2011.
Beating the Celtics in a best-of-seven series will not be easy, but Dallas haven’t done anything the easy way so far this season and yet they’re still here.
Dallas defeated the West’s fourth, first and third seeds en route to a spot in the NBA Finals, and it did so without having home-court advantage to begin a single series. Their record in the regular season was identical both at home and on the road, which shows this team will not be phased by going to Boston.
The Mavs will come into this series 34-16 against the spread in road games this year (including playoffs) for a league-best 68% cover rate.
Winning in Boston will still be challenging, however — the Celtics have only lost six times at home all season — but the Eastern Conference champs have looked vulnerable at times and Dallas have got the two most in-form players in the league on their team.
It’s a really tough series to call, but with the Mavericks coming in at +195 there is just far better value for them to be crowned NBA champions and that should be the bet.
Check out our review for BetOnline sports betting here.
Nikola Jokic may have won back-to-back MVP awards in the NBA this year, but it’s hard to argue that the best player in the league at this moment isn’t Doncic.
The Slovakian is the only other man not named Michael Jordan to average more than 30 points per game in his playoff career, and he was the NBA’s scoring champion for the season after averaging 33.9 points per game in the regular season too.
In the last series against the Timberwolves he averaged a near triple-double, and if Dallas are going to be NBA champions this season then it will be the 25-year-old who leads them there with his point-scoring abilities.
Check out our review for Bovada sports betting here.
About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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