The Boston Celtics entered the 2024 NBA Finals as the favorites to take home the title. And if their Game 1 rout of the Dallas Mavericks is any indication, then they may not have a whole lot of trouble on their way to hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy in the coming days.
Celtics Down To -400 To Win The NBA Finals
GAME DAYYYYYY pic.twitter.com/1yQP9Fh3Pg
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 9, 2024
They had been the favorites to take home the title all season long. Boston had one of the best offensive attacks in NBA history during the regular season, which was compounded by their suffocating defense, and they continued their dominance during the first three rounds of the playoffs.
But the Mavericks were supposed to provide perhaps their biggest (and only?) test of the postseason. The Celtics were the odds on favorites entering the NBA Finals, listed somewhere around -210 at sportsbooks around the country, and that notion has only grown stronger after their performance in the opening contest.
Jaylen Brown led a balanced scoring attack for Boston in Game 1, who saw their lead grow to 17 in the first quarter. They wound up not only covering the 6.5-point spread, but won by 18 points in a rout over Luka Dončić and the Mavs.
Dallas Needs Big Performance From Their Stars
Jaylen Brown says the Celtics need all of Boston behind them right now:
“It’s not just team vs. team. It’s crowd vs. crowd. It’s gas station vs. gas station. It’s supermarket vs. supermarket. It’s the whole city vs. the whole city, so we need everybody.” pic.twitter.com/CBBB3N1onO
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) June 8, 2024
The oddsmakers don’t like Dallas’ chances of a comeback. Boston’s line for the series has dropped all the way down to -400, with the Mavericks at +310. The line for Game 2 opened with a 7.5-point spread in favor of the Celtics, but has been bet down to 6.5 with just a few hours to go until game time.
The Mavericks will need their best players to step up in order to keep them alive in the series. Doncic scored 30 points in Game 1, but struggled on the defensive end, and no other player on the roster put in more than 14. Kyrie Irving had been a big reason for Dallas’ recent surge of success in the postseason, but he had just 12 points and was 0 for 5 from three-point range in the opening contest.
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