How to Bet on Game 3 of Warriors vs. Celtics: What Does 1-1 Series Mean for Bettors?

The NBA Finals series between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics is tied 1-1. What does that mean for bettors as we prepare for Game 3 at the TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday, June 8 at 9 p.m. ET?

OddsJam’s NBA expert takes you through his betting picks and predictions for Game 3 based on what we’ve learned from the first two games of this series.

Warriors vs. Celtics Series So Far

Interestingly enough, Game 2 followed a similar blueprint to Game 1, with one major, major difference.

Similar to Game 1, the Warriors went on their patented third-quarter run, outscoring the Celtics by 21 points in that third quarter of Game 2.

Of course, with the major difference in Game 2 being that the Warriors were able to close it out in the fourth quarter, evening the series to one game each.

Instead of getting outscored by 24 points in the final frame like they did in Game 1, the Warriors held on in that fourth quarter and ended up winning by 107-88.

What Does This Mean For Warriors vs. Celtics Game 3?

Now, with the series tied 1-1, we head to Boston with the Celtics as the slight home favorite. What can we learn from the first two games as we prepare to lock in our Game 3 bet?

The Celtics moneyline currently sits at -151, with the Warriors at +136, all according to the OddsJam Perfect Line.

Can Celtics Role Players Bounce Back?

The biggest difference between Games 1 and 2 was the play of the Celtics role players. In Game 1, Jayson Tatum struggled from the field while only scoring 13 points, but the quartet of Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Marcus Smart and Derrick White combined for 89 points.

In Game 2, the script was almost reversed entirely. Tatum had an awesome game, but the non-Tatum Celtic players struggled, especially Horford and Smart. Those two combined for only 4 points on two of 10 shooting.

Brown started the game hot — he scored 13 points in the first quarter — but only scored 4 points in the remaining three quarters to end with 17 points on five of 17 shooting.

Of the four players mentioned, White’s play went beyond the stat sheet with his defense and ball movement on offense, but he still struggled from the field going four of 13 and only scoring 12 points.

Overall, it was a tale of two games for both Tatum and the Celtics role players on the offensive end. Moving forward, if the Celtics are going to win this series, they can’t have those struggles.

As a team, the Celtics only scored 88 points (down from 120 in Game 1) on less than 40% shooting from the field.

Defensively, the Celtics have some things to clean up as well. They were stellar on the defensive end in the first half. In general their defense was crisp in that they were rotating effectively, and not giving Steph Curry much air space.

Despite Curry’s 15 points in the first half, the Celtics generally did a great job on him defensively. It was that darned third quarter where everything unraveled for the Celtics.

Curry almost matched his first-half point total with 14 in that third quarter, along with three 3-pointers. This third quarter was similar to the first quarter of Game 1 where the Celtics seemed to lose track of Curry in transition, or not step up as high on pick-and-rolls, and Curry made them pay.

The Warriors scored 35 points in this third quarter, and the Celtics went from down 2 at half to down 23 going into the fourth quarter.

The Celtics didn’t have another fourth-quarter miracle in them, which is why the series is now 1-1 heading to Boston.

Can Warriors Keep Things up in Boston?

The Warriors probably have mixed feelings two games into this NBA Finals.

On one hand, they are one fourth-quarter meltdown away from being up 2-0 after a convincing Game 2 victory. But, on the other hand, they still lost home-court advantage and need to win at least one game in Boston in order to win this series.

The Warriors also can’t rely on all four of the Celtics players named above to struggle as much as they did in Game 2 moving forward, especially being in Boston for the next two games.

With that said, the Warriors defense deserves a ton of credit for the Celtics’ offensive struggles in Game 2. We saw the Warriors’ elite defense step up in a big way, and their path to victory in Game 2 is a formula that they should be able to replicate moving forward.

That formula is: elite defense, Curry magic and enough scoring from one of Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and/or Klay Thompson to survive.

It was Poole who stepped up in Game 2. He had a rough six quarters to start the series too, really struggling with the Celtics’ length and aggressiveness on defense.

He finally seemed to figure things out at the end of the third quarter, with two 3’s late in the quarter to build the lead to 23.

All in all, Poole ended the second half with 14 points, this is after only scoring 12 points in the first six quarters of these finals.

The Warriors will need more from Thompson if they want to win this series, though. He ended Game 2 with only 11 points on four of 19 shooting from the field.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr left Thompson in the game in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach, seemingly hoping the extra minutes could help shake Klay out of his funk.

It remains to be seen whether that will hold true or not, but either way it is unlikely for the Warriors to win moving forward if Thompson shoots one of eight from deep.

All in all, the Warriors have to be pleased with how they responded after that fourth-quarter meltdown in Game 1. They did what they needed to do, evening the series at home.

Check out our betting preview in the YouTube video below for additional analysis!

Warriors vs. Celtics Game 3 Betting Pick

While I do think Boston has a distinct advantage heading back home, I still like the Warriors here. The Celtics have too many questions offensively that make me nervous for their chances moving forward.

So, I am going with the Warriors moneyline as my pick here.

With that said, my favorite play of Game 3 is the game total going under.

I believe that the scoring of Game 1 was an anomaly and that Game 2 is more of how the series is going to go for Game 3 and beyond.

Pick: Game Total Under 212.5 | -109 at BetRivers

Pick: Warriors Moneyline | +140 at Caesars

Warriors vs. Celtics Game 3 Prediction

My official prediction for Game 3 is that the Warriors are going to win 106-101.