Golden State Warriors vs Boston Celtics Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 01/06/2022, 09:21  by Joseph King | Modified on 01/06/2022 at 16:22 in Basketball Predictions

Game one of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics tips off on Thursday at the Chase Center in San Francisco. For Golden State, this is their sixth Finals trip in the past eight years while Boston returns to the promised land for the first time since 2010. The Warriors are chasing their seventh championship while the Celtics are looking to break their deadlock with the Lakers and win what would be a record 18th title. Boston will likely be feeling the effects after a grueling Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat made it back-to-back series that went the full seven games. The Warriors, on the other hand, come into this series the better rested of the two teams after disposing of the Mavericks in five games. These two teams face off only twice in the regular season, splitting 1-1 with the Celtics winning the most recent game 110-88 in March. 

We saw what happened in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals in Miami after the Celtics were taken to a game seven by the Bucks the round prior. Boston looked fatigued and the Heat were able to capitalize on their rest advantage to record a double-digit victory to kick-off the series. Boston now faces a similar challenge, with a cross-country trip on short rest after a tough, physically draining matchup against one of the NBA’s best defenses in the Heat. This will be a significant step up in competition on the offensive side of the ball, as the Celtics past three playoff opponents can’t come close to matching the firepower of this Warriors team. This is an extremely talented Celtics team and there could very well be value in taking them to win the series but they’re in a tough situational spot here. The Chase Center, while uncomparable to the old Oracle Arena so far, should be rocking for this one and we expect the Warriors to be able to ride the energy to a game one win.