Sportsbooks Need Warriors Over Celtics to Win NBA Finals

For bettors holding Golden State Warriors or Boston Celtics futures tickets to win a title this year, Thursday's start of the 2022 NBA Finals could not come soon enough.

The Warriors opened the season at WynnBET Sportsbook at 9/1 odds to win the championship, and were actually available at that price at the start of the postseason as well. Meanwhile, the mighty Boston Celtics were once available to bettors at 100/1 odds this year!

According to WynnBET, January 30, 2022 was the last time bettors could jump on board with Boston at such a high number, and the sportsbooks are starting to sweat.

Of all 30 NBA teams, the Celtics are the fourth-highest liability for WynnBET in the futures market, trailing only the Orlando Magic (yup, that happened), Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies. Boston received 8.6% of the sportsbook's betting tickets, and 8.4% of the betting handle.

As for the Warriors, bettors invested more betting tickets and money into Golden State than Boston this season, but the odds were nowhere near as massive. The Dubs have 10.3% of the futures betting tickets at WynnBET, with 13.3% of the money.

Celtics vs. Warriors Series Prediction (Who Has the Edge in the NBA Finals?)

BetSided's Peter Dewey broke down the matchup in detail earlier this week at BetSided, citing how the Celtics +127 are in a terrific position to win the Finals at good value as underdogs in the series.

The two best net rating teams in the league play for the Larry O'Brien trophy; setting up a potentially iconic series. Boston begins the Finals with the No. 2 defensive rating in the postseason, as well as the best net rating amongst all the postseason teams. Golden State is No. 1 in offensive rating, but just No. 6 in defensive rating; yet finished just behind the Celtics in overall net rating.

I'm still on the Warriors -155 to win the series; as I trust their playoff experience and poise to handle the Celtics' defensive gameplan. Golden State has also been the best second half and fourth quarter team in the playoffs, something BetSided's Donnavan Smoot highlighted Wednesday. In-game and halftime adjustments will be critical in what should be a highly contested series.

As for Game 1, the Warriors remain undefeated in the postseason at home, but I'll be betting the over on Jordan Poole's point prop at 15.5.

Peter and I broke down the series, as well as potential early betting opportunities on Wednesday's episode of "Daily Betslip," which you can find below. Don't forget to subscribe to BetSided's YouTube channel here.

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