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Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat Preview: Expect a competitive Game 1
The Boston Celtics will travel to Florida to take on the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Miami Heat took care of the 76ers in six games and Boston took down the defending champions in seven. This game kicks off the countdown to the NBA Finals. With four teams remaining, the pressure is on as these teams look to capture Game 1.
Below, you will find two player props for the game followed by a lean on one team's money line.
Player Prop #1: Jayson Tatum over 11.5 Rebounds+Assists (-105)
"Jayson Tatum has gone toe-to-toe with some all-time greats"- @SportsCenter
Jayson Tatum is averaging 8.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists in his last 10 games against the Miami Heat.
With Celtics role players such as Al Horford, Marcus Smart, and Grant Williams giving Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown help, the Celtics stars have seen a lot of assist opportunities on drive-and-kick plays.
Tonight, Tatum and the Boston Celtics take on one of the best defenses in the league.
Miami's defense has been elite all season long and that hasn't changed in the playoffs. Like the last series with Milwaukee, the Celtics are going to need all hands on deck to come away with a road win.
The major key to Boston's Game 7 win over the Milwaukee Bucks was their three-point shooting. They made 22 three-pointers as a team, with seven from Grant Williams and five from Tatum.
If the Celtics can continue to shoot that well, Tatum will have a lot of assist chances tonight.
Player Prop #2: Jimmy Butler under 24.5 Points (-110)
"Nobody is paying attention to what anybody else picks because we know that we can win."- Jimmy Butler
The Boston Celtics have an elite defense as well.
Jimmy Butler has gone below the line in three straight games against Boston. The Boston defense will be locked in on stopping Butler because he has been the Heat's best scorer thus far.
With Kyle Lowry out of the lineup once again, Butler falls into the main ball handler role. When Lowry has been out of the lineup, Jimmy Butler has seen a large increase in both assists and assist chances per game.
Given that the Celtics have elite perimeter defenders in Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Defensive Player of the Year, Marcus Smart; it's safe to assume Butler won't get many easy looks tonight.
We're going with Jimmy Butler to go below his point player prop tonight.
Pick/Prediction: LEAN Celtics ML (+110)
This is a very tough game to predict because these teams are evenly matched. However, Boston has climbed up a tougher mountain in order to get here.
The Celtics have had to take out the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving-led Nets team and then go toe-to-toe with the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. The Celtics have great value in this game for how well they're playing.
