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Betting My Way Through The Playoffs: What To Expect From The Celtics? (5/23/22)

Derek Farnsworth Mon 5/23 7:05am PT
Check out our betting experts picks for Monday.
Image Credit: Imagn

ScoresAndOdds NBA betting expert Derek Farnsworth breaks down his Game 4 predictions for the Heat vs. Celtics on Monday, May 23. Make sure to use our BetMGM promo for a $1000 free bet!

While the Dallas bet didn’t come through last night, I can’t say that I’m too upset about it. As noted in the series preview and in the betting breakdown, I fully expected the Warriors to pick up at least one game in Dallas. I expected it to be Game 4 or Game 6, but the Mavericks picked a bad night to forget how to shoot the ball. They have lived and died by the three the entire postseason and the latter was certainly the case in Game 3. The team shot 13-for-45 (29%) from the stripe and three of their best shooters (Reggie Bullock, Maxi Kleber, and Davis Bertans) combined to go 0-for-14.

The Mavericks will now take a stab at the impossible – they will try to become the first team in NBA history to win a series after losing the first three games. We have lost bets each of the last two nights, which brings our playoff tally down to +1.83 units. 

Betting My Way Through The NBA Playoffs: Running Totals 

Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics: Expert Pick & Prediction

I still can’t decide if it’s more amazing that the Celtics lost Game 3, or that they even had a chance to win the game at all. Jimmy Butler missed the entire second half and the Celtics had so many opportunities to go on serious runs, but they shot themselves in the foot time and time again. Committing 23 turnovers in a home playoff game is bad enough to begin with, but it gets even worse when you see that 17 of those turned into steals for the Heat. Every time the Celtics would make a couple shots and get a couple of stops, they would turn the ball over. 

It was genuinely one of the more bizarre playoff games I have ever had the pleasure of watching. By the way, can we get one game that is competitive throughout? It feels like the start of the playoffs provided some great games and the last two weeks have all been blowouts. Heat fans should feel optimistic for a few reasons – they stole back home-court advantage, Kyle Lowry had his best game of the playoffs, and all of the pressure is now back on Boston. 

While this technically isn’t a must-win for the Celtics, that’s exactly how I would frame it if I were Ime Udoka. If they lose Game 4, they will have to win three games in a row to advance to the NBA Finals and two of those wins would have to come in Miami. There are a lot of key players listed as questionable for this game, which makes betting on it a little tricky. However, I like betting on teams that have a lot on the line, especially ones that are playing at home. I still view the Celtics as the better team and I expect a much smoother performance all around.