Warriors favored to beat Celtics in NBA Finals
Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors drives to the basket against Marcus Smart #36 of the Boston Celtics in the first quarter at Chase Center on March 16, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images/AFP
One week before the regular season opened, the Golden State Warriors were 12-to-1 to win the NBA Finals.
Now, at the start of Finals week, the Warriors are favored to beat the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics and claim a fourth NBA title under Steve Kerr.
Some could be holding even larger potential payoffs on underdog Boston if they took advantage of major sportsbooks installing the new-look team as a 50-1 longshot.
The series underdog at +130 in the 2022 Finals, the Celtics are 3.5-point underdogs in Game 1, scheduled for Thursday (Friday in Manila) at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Just 10 days ago, Boston was still 10-to-1 to win the Finals at DraftKings, BetMGM and Caesars, and 12-to-1 at PointsBet.
A $250 bet before the Eastern Conference finals on the Celtics to win the title would pay $2,500 if Boston can pull the upset.
Warriors star Stephen Curry is the favorite to win Finals MVP at +110, ahead of Jayson Tatum (+175) and Jaylen Brown (+1000) of the Celtics.
