Golden State (1-2) at Boston (2-1)
When: Friday, June 10th 2022
Where: TD Garden,
Boston, MA
Time: 9:00 ET | TV: ABC
Opening Odds: Boston -3.5/215.5
After splitting two games in San Francisco, the Boston Celtics returned home for Game 3 and held homecourt with a relatively dominating 116-100 victory over the Golden State Warriors to take a 2-1 series lead in this year’s NBA Finals. Boston is seeking their first NBA title since 2008 and the odds are pretty good according to bookmakers around the world. The Celtics are now a -220 favorite to win the series, while Golden State is now the underdog at +170. Boston has had their issues closing out games at home this postseason and survived yet another Golden State third quarter before taking over in the fourth. The Warriors outscored Boston 33-25 in the third, but recorded just 11 final-quarter points on 5-of-15 shooting, 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.
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With about four minutes left, Golden State’s Steph Curry was injured during a scramble for the ball when Celtics big man Al Horford landed on his leg. Curry was in pain on the floor and initially remained in the game before being removed a few minutes later with the game out of reach. Curry now has 48 hours to heal up and is pretty confident he’ll be on the court for Friday’s Game 4. Boston dominated Golden State on the glass, outrebounding them 47-31 in Game 3. Warrior’s forward Draymond Green had just two points and four rebounds. Boston is now 8-2 in the last 10 meetings with Golden State and the Warriors are just 1-6 ATS in their last seven road games.
Golden State was once again led by Curry, who scored a game-high 31 points with six three-pointers, but was noticeably limping after the game. He is averaging 31.3 points and has made 18-of-37 (48.6 percent) from beyond the arc this series. Klay Thompson produced his best performance of the Finals with 25 points and five threes. Andrew Wiggins added 18 points and seven rebounds, but the Warriors got very little from the rest of the group. Golden State was outscored 52-26 in the paint.
Boston wasted no time in bouncing back from their Game 2 setback and scored 68 first half points. They shot 57 percent from the field in the first half (27-of-47) including 8-for-18 from 3-point land. Boston also committed just 12 turnovers after coughing it up 19 times in Game 2. The starts showed up, as Jaylen Brown had 27 points and nine rebounds, while Jayson Tatum had 26 points and nine assists. Marcus Smart added 24 points and was solid on defense. Robert Williams III, who has been dealing with a knee injury, finished with eight points and 10 rebounds and four blocks.
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I’ve taking the Celtics in the first three games and I’m going to stick with them here in Game 4. The home crowd was really a factor in giving energy to the defense and limiting the Warriors’ role players. I can see a similar type of game here.
Check out who Bobby Babowski has on his Free NBA Picks page for today.
Pick: Celtics -4
