NBA Playoffs 2023/24, NBA Finals, Game 3, Thursday, 13.06.2024
If you’re already looking forward to the opening game of the European Championship on Friday, you shouldn’t miss out on the accompanying European Championship bonus offers from the various bookmakers!
However, for basketball fans, Game 3 of the NBA Finals, which takes place the day before, is just as important.
In my Mavericks Celtics betting tip, I’m expecting another Doncic show, but in the end it won’t be enough for the Texans to win these finals for the first time …
Game 2 was an almost perfect mirror image of Game 1 in my eyes, with the subtle difference that the Celtics weren’t able to sink quite as many threes this time.
However, Luka Doncic was also largely isolated last Monday. The Slovenian scored in abundance, sometimes 30, sometimes 32 points. But he simply needs far more support from his teammates to turn this series around (0:2).
In terms of quality, the Celtics are much better equipped across the board anyway and it is precisely this aspect that immediately catches the eye whenever they have the ball. Because BOS have far more opportunities to put points on the scoreboard
In the current debate about the best Celtic player, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis have now been followed by Jrue Holiday. Boston simply has enough talent on the roster to keep Dallas on their toes in a variety of ways throughout the series!
Holiday was unusually aggressive in the game and scored 26 points, which automatically makes him a promising candidate for a scoring bet around this threshold at Bet365 for Game 3.
By the way: Brad Stevens, who masterminded the holiday trade in the first place last summer, is my personal MVP of the series thanks to this transfer coup.
Although the Mavericks have also landed a real coup with Irving for the 2024 season, the fuse doesn’t seem to want to burn here. And yet Luka Doncic needs him more than ever right now
Irving played a few well-considered passes on Sunday and defended well.
But that’s also the problem: The Mavs need him to be “exceptional” and that hasn’t happened yet. Again, Irving didn’t excel through four quarters, and his contribution in Game 2 diminished.
Want to hear a disturbing stat in this context? Irving has now lost 12 straight games to the Celtics. I’m sure those numbers will unsettle rather than energize the Mavs’ second superstar going forward!
I have to defend Irving at this point, because the truth is that the Celtics defense has been excellent in these NBA Finals.
Boston’s defensive rotations and switches, presence in the paint and surprising double teams have confounded the Mavericks so far, preventing them from taking control at any point in these two games.
But while Game 2 was closer, an attempted Mavs rally was stifled by two defensive stops by the Celtics late in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics always manage to shift up a gear, especially in crunch time …
The NBA Finals series now shifts the action to Texas for the first time, but could it be too late?
The fact is that the Mavs are under massive pressure, as Game 3 is already the game of destiny.
After all, the Mavericks have probably also noticed that no team in the NBA play-offs has ever successfully recovered from a 3-0 deficit. That naturally builds up pressure
I recommend a European Championship betting provider to place one or two promising Mavericks Celtics bets.
One scenario envisages Luka Doncic cracking the 33-point mark this time. The odds of around 1.90 are interesting and the Celtics aren’t double-teaming him anyway, so the Slovenian should get plenty of opportunities to score again.
I would also bet on an early 0:3 from the home side because the Mavericks Celtics odds are so inviting in this regard.
The Celtics are being traded as slight underdogs with odds of around 2.05, which is why I will stick with the Bostonians, who have been more convincing so far anyway, if in doubt
Conclusion: There are of course various betting paths you can take in this matter.
Personally, however, I deliberately opt for a somewhat riskier option, which is, however, also remunerated first-class and can in no way be classified as “reckless”.
I’m betting at handsome odds of around 4.50 on two events that we already saw in Game 1 & 2: Many points from Doncic, but Boston wins
