2022 NBA Championship Betting Odds and Predictions

Two of the NBA’s most decorated franchises will go toe-to-toe in the NBA Finals later this week. On Thursday, the Boston Celtics will head to San Francisco to take on the Golden State Warriors in what should be a compelling Game 1.

These franchises are no strangers to this stage, of course.

The Warriors have won six championships all time, four of which have come since the Warriors moved from Philadelphia to the Bay Area in 1962. This will be the sixth Finals appearance for Golden State since 2015, as well.

The Celtics, meanwhile, are looking to break a tie with their longtime rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, for the most championships in NBA history. Both franchises have 17 banners hanging in the rafters, though this will be Boston’s first trip to the Finals since losing to the Lakers back in 2010. This will be Boston’s 22nd Finals appearance, as well. The Celtics are 17-4 in their first 21 trips to the championship round.

Between Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, the 2022 Finals will feature no shortage of star power. With a few days left until tipoff, you’ve got plenty of time to head over to your favorite NBA betting sites in order to get your Finals bets placed.

After a few lean, injury-plagued years, the Golden State Warriors are finally back. This will be the sixth Finals appearance for the team’s longtime core of Curry, Thompson, and Green, though this year’s squad may not be quite as experienced overall. Golden State will have a home-court advantage, however, as a result of finishing the regular season one game ahead of Boston in the leaguewide standings.안전 토토사이트 추천

The Dubs haven’t been a beacon of health in these playoffs. Andre Iguodala has yet to play, while Otto Porter Jr. has missed three games. Gary Payton II, who was injured in the second-round series against Memphis, is expected to return for the Finals, however. Payton emerged this season as one of Steve Kerr’s most versatile defensive weapons in the backcourt, and his presence will be needed against a Celtics team with firepower on the wings.

We’re quite familiar with the Warriors’ high-octane offense, with Curry and Thompson entrenched as the centerpieces. Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole have stepped up in a big way in these playoffs, however, which gives Kerr more options than he used to have whenever the team is in need of a bucket.

Against a Celtics team that finished first in the league in defensive rating, the Warriors will need their complementary players to step up in the event Boston finds a way to slow Curry or Thompson. The primary weakness for the Dubs is turnovers. This has always been their primary weakness, for whatever reason. Golden State has been as sloppy as usual in that department this postseason, coughing it up an average of 14.8 times per game. That number jumps to over 16 per game in each of their four losses.

That could be an issue against a Boston team that has made its hay in the defensive end of the floor all year long.

Celtics’ Road Success

In order to win the series, the Celtics will have to find a way to steal at least one game in San Francisco. Fortunately, that hasn’t been an issue for Boston in these playoffs. In fact, three of the Celtics’ four wins over the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals came in Miami, including the decisive Game 7 triumph on Sunday evening. The Celtics’ only loss came in Game 1, a game Boston dominated in the first half before faltering in the second.

The Celtics also won in their lone trip to the Bay Area during the regular season. Boston came away with an easy 110-88 win over the Warriors back in March, though that was the game in which Curry went down before halftime with a foot injury that would sideline him for over a month. Boston’s trio of Tatum, Brown, and Marcus Smart combined to score 72 of the team’s 110 points that night.

Injuries have been an issue for Boston, too. Robert Williams has been in-and-out of the lineup throughout the postseason as he continues to recover from a torn meniscus in his knee. Ditto for Smart, who has missed a couple of games as a result of a variety of minor maladies. Rest could be helpful, however. The Celtics have played a game every other day since May 7th as a result of back-to-back seven-game series against Milwaukee and Miami. With three days off before the Finals, we could finally get a glimpse of a more well-rested Celtics side in Game 1.

The Warriors have yet to play a Game 7 in these playoffs, meanwhile.

The Celtics are a pretty intriguing matchup against the Warriors defensively. Golden State has had no trouble offensively against three defensive teams that don’t like to switch on defense. Boston, meanwhile, is the most switch-heavy team in basketball.

Who Will Win the NBA Title?

The Warriors are deserving favorites to win it all this year. Golden State is the healthier team with home-court advantage, and they’ll enter the Finals confident and hungry to get back to the top of the mountain. The odds will likely change considerably if the Dubs take Game 1. As a result, a stab at their current -150 NBA title odds is still viable.

However, given the team’s defensive prowess and Boston’s own ability to exploit matchups on offense, the Celtics look like a worthy challenger to the Warriors’ status as early title favorites. I would be all over Boston’s +130 NBA championship odds before the series begins. You can argue this has been the NBA’s best team since the calendar flipped to 2022, and this well-coached bunch won’t be afraid of the spotlight.

Golden State Warriors (+135)

The Warriors and Suns were the two best teams in the Western Conference all year, but Phoenix’s collapse against Dallas means we won’t see that highly-anticipated matchup.

The Warriors will have to get through Luka Doncic and the Mavericks, who should be playing with the utmost confidence after eliminating a Suns side that won 64 games during the regular season.

Golden State will have home-court advantage in the Western Conference Finals, which is huge. The Dubs went 31-10 at the Chase Center during the regular year, and they’re a perfect 6-0 at home in these playoffs.

We know this team has more than enough experience to go all the way.

Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green have combined to play in 391 career playoff games. Doncic, meanwhile, has 23 NBA playoff games under his belt, though he did see plenty of high-stakes action for Real Madrid before coming to the US.

All of that experience makes the  Warriors deserving +135 favorites to win it all, per the latest NBA championship betting odds. 메이저놀이터 목록

Boston Celtics (+190)

Oddsmakers like the Celtics to get past the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals despite Miami having home-court advantage in that series.

Boston has been arguably the best two-way team in the league since the end of January, so it’s hard not to like their updated +190 odds to win it all this summer. Jayson Tatum has established himself as one of the 10 best players in the league during Boston’s run past Brooklyn and Milwaukee. Tatum is contributing north of 28 points per game through the first 11 playoff games of the year along with 6.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds.

He finds ways to impact the game in a positive manner even in the rare instances in which his shots aren’t falling.

Between Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, and Robert Williams, the Celtics have enough depth across the board to present matchup issues for anyone they’ll face from here on out.

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The Celtics own the NBA’s best point differential, outscoring their opponents by an incredible 419 points over 30 regular-season games. Memphis, who was eliminated by Golden State in the last round, ranked a distant second (plus-273) in the same span.

These Celtics are absolutely the real deal, which makes their +190 NBA title odds look awfully appealing.

Miami Heat (+475)

Despite finishing as the top seed in the Eastern Conference with 53 wins, the Heat have somehow managed to fly under the radar all year long. For whatever reason, oddsmakers are still reluctant to buy what the Heat are selling.

The matchup against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals is certainly more daunting than any Miami has faced thus far. The Heat cruised past the mediocre Hawks in round one before taking advantage of the injury-depleted Sixers in the conference semis.

That series may have played out differently had Joel Embiid been healthy, but he wasn’t. Of course, the Heat can only play the games on their schedule, so credit to them for making the most of their easy path thus far.

Kyle Lowry is a question mark for this series, and a hamstring injury will likely keep him sidelined for at least Game 1 on Tuesday.

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Without Lowry, the Heat don’t have much offensive playmaking beyond Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro. Butler has stepped his offensive game up considerably in these playoffs, but he’s unlikely to maintain his current 52.5 percent shooting in a rough matchup against Boston’s stingy defense.

Erik Spoelstra’s squad has defied the odds all year long, though Boston did win two of the three regular-season showdowns between the teams.

Dallas Mavericks (+550)

If you want a value bet to win it all this season, look no further than Dallas. The Mavs upended a downtrodden Jazz team in the first round despite the fact that Luka Doncic missed the first three games of that series with a calf strain.

Doncic has looked no worse for the wear since his return, however, and he took center stage in Dallas’ epic beatdown of Phoenix in Sunday’s Game 7. The Mavs will go as far as Doncic can carry them. Considering Luka may well be the best basketball player on the planet right now, however, who’s to say he can’t carry them all the way across the finish line?

Dirk Nowitzki pulled a similar stunt when the Mavs won it all 11 years ago, and there are quite a few parallels between this team and that one.

The Mavericks have had the Warriors’ number so far this season, too. Dallas claimed three of the four head-to-head meetings with GSW during the season.

Despite a status as one of the best defensive teams in the league, the Dubs have yet to find a way to solve Luka. Doncic averaged 31.5 points per game in his four outings against the Warriors this season.

If Dallas can get past Golden State, who’s to say they can’t beat Boston or Miami in the Finals?

Who Will Win the NBA Title in 2022?

You can make a compelling argument for each of the final four remaining teams to win the title later in the summer. As of now, I’m the most bearish on Miami. The Heat may struggle to generate consistent offense against the Celtics, especially with one of their primary playmakers, Kyle Lowry, uncertain for the series.