The second round of the NBA Playoffs have now concluded, which means just four teams remain in the hunt to be crowned champions in a couple of weeks’ time. Next up in playoffs is the Conference Finals, and we have you covered with our series predictions below. Good luck to everyone following!
Also, make sure to head over to our NBA Tips regularly, as we’ll be providing free tips for all the major games/series in the NBA post-season!
NBA Playoffs Betting Tips: Conference Finals Series Predictions
Boston Celtics (1) vs Indiana Pacers (6)
The Eastern Conference Finals are somewhat of a surprise matchup, with the heavily fancied Boston Celtics set to take on the Indiana Pacers – a team that has already exceeded all expectations.
It’s been all smooth sailing for the Celtics both in the regular season where they notched up a league-high 64 wins, and in the playoffs where they’ve dropped only two games up until this point. They defeated the Heat 4-1 in the first round, and doubled the dose with a 4-1 beating of the Cavaliers in the conference semis.
Meanwhile, the Pacers have had to scratch and claw their way to the final four. They just did enough in the regular season to finish sixth and avoid the Play-In Tournament, and have had to overcome home court advantage against both the Bucks (4-2) and most recently the Knicks (4-3). Their series win against the Knicks was particularly impressive as they trailed 2-0 and had to win on enemy territory in the deciding Game 7.
It's no surprise to see the Celtics priced as short as $1.08 to advance through to the NBA Finals considering their dominance throughout the entire 2023-24 season. However, the Pacers have found some success against them this season, defeating them in 2/5 attempts (BOS-IND-BOS-IND-BOS), one of which was in the In-Season Tournament.
Clearly the Celtics should be too strong over the course of seven games, particularly with four of them being at the TD Garden, although the Pacers are certainly good enough to avoid a sweep and I can see them pinching a couple of wins when they get hot shooting the ball from range, which is what we saw in their dominant Game 7 win against the Knicks.
Indiana Pacers +2.5
$2.20 (1 Unit)
Minnesota Timberwolves (3) vs Dallas Mavericks (5)
The Western Conference Finals have also tossed up a surprise matchup, with the #3 seed Minnesota Timberwolves set to take on the #5 seed Dallas Mavericks. The Timberwolves will have homecourt advantage in 4/7 of the games, including the opening two.
The Timberwolves have had a tough road to the Conference Finals and are more than battle tested ahead of this huge series. In the first round they came up against the highly-fancied and stacked Suns who they were able to destroy in a sweep. While most recently they took down the defending champion Nuggets in a seven-game thriller despite trailing 2-3.
Such is the competitiveness of the West, the Mavericks have also had a tough run to make it this far. They opened up their playoff run with a round one win against the Clippers (4-2) before upsetting the #1 seed Thunder in the conference semis by the same scoreline (4-2).
Being conference rivals, these clubs met four times during the regular season and it was the Timberwolves who had the advantage with three wins to the Mavericks’ one. However, the Mavericks had a lot of chopping and changing with their lineup over the course of the regular season and are a much better team than they were in most of those meetings.
The Mavs play a unique style on offence that makes it hard for the likes of Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards to make an impact on defence, as they’ll be involved in a lot of pick-and-roll and switch action. The Mavs also have the most battle-tested/proven player in the series in Kyrie Irving who’s sure to have at least a couple of huge games. And in tandem with Luka Doncic, I see the Mavs as terrific value to cause the upset.
Dallas Mavericks to Win
$2.40 (1.5 Units)
