Friday nights: an early weekend, a trip downtown, and for sports fans, Game Four in the 2022 NBA Finals.
The Boston Celtics assumed a 2-1 lead over the Golden State Warriors after a 116-100 win on Wednesday. And they could effectively guarantee themselves a series win by defeating Golden State at home Friday night.
Here are some NBA Finals trends to look for in that game and some bets to help form a NBA Finals same-game parlay.
Marcus Smart o2.5 threes (+112)
Smart has become a high-volume three-point shooter in these playoffs and went over this total in two of three Finals games. Both in Celtics victories; he did not make a three-pointer in their Game Two loss.
Many analysts know Smart as the vocal leader and defensive engager for the Celtics. But what is not talked about is his willingness to take big shots in decisive moments.
Granted, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are usually the ones with the ball in their hands. But he does receive a fair amount of swing passes, where he likes to get the ball up in a hurry.
Both of Boston’s wins have come as a result of team efforts, and so Smart will have the understanding that he needs to keep shooting well to get another win.
Jayson Tatum o5.5 1Q points (-138)
Brown had a superb first quarter during Wednesday’s game. While his total of over 6.5 is also a strong bet, Tatum’s is the better prospect.
The C’s best player will want to get his game going early. Just as he usually does before ultimately deferring if someone else has it going. As with all of the BParlay.com NBA bets for today we offer a wide variety of tips for free to all of our readers and subscribers.
Tatum is also the team’s bailout shooter and will have plenty of looks at the basket. Even if they are not prioritizing him heavily from the onset.
Kevon Looney o8.5 rebounds (+124)
Looney is the only player on the Warriors’ roster that is both tall enough and strong enough to muck it up with the Celtics big men.
He is yet to secure less than seven rebounds in a game in this series. Despite only averaging 21 minutes of action per game. And after the Warriors were absolutely pummeled on the boards in Game Three. There is a very strong chance that Looney sees an increase in activity.
He also went over the 8.5 total (with nine) in the game where he played the most minutes (25). Which bodes well for the success of the bet. Check out the official NBA Games Schedule for more information on up and coming matches.
3rd Quarter Winner: Golden State Warriors (+105)
The fact that the oddsmakers have the Warriors as underdogs to win the third quarter is astonishing. /////gSW has dominated the third quarter in every game in this series. Just as they mostly have throughout the entirety of their dynasty.
Even in Boston’s two wins, the Dubs outscored them by a combined 22 points in the third quarter. As whatever halftime speech Steve Kerr has been giving them has seemed to work extremely well.
Boston will probably key in on stopping the early second-half hemorrhaging, but the history is too much to ignore.
Klay Thompson under 16.5 points (+235)
The fact that this is the lowest available alternate points total for Thompson shows how terrified the oddsmakers are of losing money on Klay. Aside from his 25-point outburst in Game Three, he has been terrible. Scoring 15 and 11 points in the first two games.
This is not an isolated trend either, as in the previous series against the Dallas Mavericks, Thompson’s “bad” games resulted in 12, 19, 15, and 15 points, showing that the 15-point area is just about the sweet spot when he is not in rhythm. All of our NBA bet tip advice has been carefully chosen by our team of sports writers, we try to be as honest as we can be.
The splash brother has also shown that he is extremely inconsistent. And after using up his great game on Wednesday, precedent suggests that he is due for a stinker on Friday.
