The Boston Celtics are hoping to avoid the disappointment of another Finals loss when they start the championship series against the Dallas Mavericks with Game 1 at the TD Garden Thursday. The Celtics won the 2022 Finals opener against the Warriors and did have a 2-1 lead at one point, but lost the series 4-2. With Boston looking for a different result this time around, here’s some of our favorite Celtics player props for Game 1 with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Jaylen Brown over 22.5 points (-118)
Brown has typically gotten off to good starts in the playoffs scoring but was cooling off after that in the first two rounds. That changed in the conference finals, where the forward averaged 29.8 points per game and hit many clutch shots for Boston. I do think Brown will carry some of that recent form over into the Finals. He averaged 23.5 points per game in the 2022 Finals against the Warriors and should be looking to do better than that this time around, so I see him going over this line Thursday evening.
Jrue Holiday over 4.5 assists (-130)
The veteran point guard is not a stranger to the Finals, winning the 2021 championship with the Bucks. After a string of decent assist numbers for most of these playoffs, Holiday emerged as a scorer in the Pacers series thanks in large part to the absence of Kristaps Porzingis. The big man is back for Game 1, so I expect Holiday to settle into his traditional point guard role again. He’s averaging 4.6 assists per game in the playoffs but has gone over this mark in seven of the 14 games.
Al Horford under 5.5 rebounds (-142)
As mentioned above, Porzingis is back and should get the start for the Celtics. Jayson Tatum, the team’s star rebounder, isn’t going anywhere. That means Horford is likely to take a back seat in that particular category, although the Celtics will still give him decent minutes. The veteran big man’s rebounding numbers don’t change much from when he starts to when he comes off the bench but I don’t think this is a particularly favorable matchup for Horford when it comes to the glass. I see him going under this line tonight.