While the Boston Celtics are celebrating their first Eastern Conference title since 2010, many are already placing bets on their upcoming Finals series against the Golden State Warriors.
After the Celtics beat the Miami Heat in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference Finals series on Sunday, sportsbook BetMGM released the early odds for the Boston-Golden State Finals, which tips off this Thursday. The Warriors are currently -165 favorites to win the series and 3.5-point favorites in Game 1.
The early line makes sense since the Warriors have homecourt advantage and have been resting since finishing off their Western Conference Finals series against the Dallas Mavericks last Thursday. They may be getting the injured Gary Payton II and Andre Iguodala, both of whom did not play at all against the Mavs, back for the Finals as well.
But it still might not be very wise to write off the Celtics. The two teams split the season series, but Boston won their last matchup in March by a 110-88 blowout. One Celtics player also has a particularly personal stake in this Finals matchup.
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