Warriors Vs. Celtics Series Schedule, Playoff Bracket, Standings, Odds, Props And Betting Trends

The 2022 NBA Finals matchup is set now that the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors are the two teams left standing.

Here’s a look at how each team navigated through the 2022 NBA Playoff bracket to reach this point:

2022 NBA Playoff Bracket And Standings

Both sides proved their worth as a legitimate title contender during the leadup to this series.

The Warriors earned the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference after a 53-29 showing in the regular season. They made short work of the Denver Nuggets in their 2022 NBA Playoffs opener and eliminated the Memphis Grizzlies in six games to follow that up.

Golden State had little trouble in the conference finals, dispatching the Dallas Mavericks by a 4-1 margin, a quick series that allowed the veteran-laden squad to get plenty of rest ahead of the Finals.

The Celtics had much more arduous journey to their first NBA Finals since 2010. After earning the East’s No. 2 seed by winning a three-way tiebreaker with the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers, Boston surprisingly swept the star-studded Brooklyn Nets in the postseason opener before running into a pair of grueling foes.

The C’s faced a much more rigorous challenge in the next round, needing seven games to best the defending champion Bucks. They also had to win a Game 7 on the road in the conference finals against a plucky Miami Heat squad that had the best regular season record in the East.

Have a peek at the odds for each participant to win the 2022 NBA Finals:

2022 NBA Finals Series Odds

• NBA Championship 2022: Warriors (-160), Celtics (+130)
• Series Spread: GSW -1.5 (+148), BOS +1.5 (-184)
• Total Games: Four (+650), Five (+250), Six (+190), Seven (+185)

NBA Finals odds courtesy of FanDuel

The Warriors have a narrow edge in the 2022 NBA Finals after opening as -160 chalk—meaning one would have to risk $1.60 to win $1—to capture the franchise’s seventh Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Golden State started the campaign as one of the title favorites, going off at +900—the fourth-best in basketball—right before the 2021-22 NBA season began. Those odds went as low as +425 at the All-Star break, tying them as the league’s co-favorites for a time.

Although the Dubs dropped to 10-1 right before the 2022 NBA Playoffs started—odds that put them well behind the reigning conference champion Phoenix Suns at +260—they quickly became the favorite by the time the conference semifinals began at +300.

The Celtics are a slight underdog in this series +140—paying out $1.40 for each $1 staked—and have a real chance to become one of the bigger underdogs to ever win a title.

Few teams have won an NBA Finals with longer preseason odds than Boston, which started the 2021-22 NBA season at 40-1 and were 66-1 to hang the club’s record-setting 18^th championship banner as recently as February. Only eight clubs in the last 35 years have opened the season at 10-1 or longer and went on to win it all.

The C’s bounced back with a late season surge and opened the playoffs at +900 to win the NBA Finals, odds that placed them behind only the Bucks for best in the East and ranked as the third-best in the league overall.

All that matters for each team now is notching four wins and becoming NBA champions. See the full series schedule and viewing guide for each of these upcoming matchups in the 2022 NBA Finals below:

NBA Finals 2022 Schedule

• Game 1: Thursday, June 2 in San Francisco at 9 p.m. on ESPN
• Game 2: Sunday, June 5 in San Francisco at 8 p.m. on ESPN
• Game 3: Wednesday, June 8 in Boston at 9 p.m. on ESPN
• Game 4: Friday, June 10 in Boston at 9 p.m. on ESPN
• *Game 5: Monday, June 13 in San Francisco at 9 p.m. on ESPN
• *Game 6: Thursday, June 16 in Boston at 9 p.m. on ESPN
• *Game 7: Sunday, June 19 in San Francisco at 8 p.m. on ESPN

All 2022 NBA Finals games can be live streamed via WatchESPN and the ESPN app.

*=if necessary

The 2022 NBA Finals gets underway on Thursday evening with a highly anticipated rubber match between the Celtics and Warriors.

Game 1 will mark the third matchup between these clubs since the start of the 2021-22 NBA season. Boston and Golden State split their two regular season games—each winning on the road—and now have a chance to break that tie while striking the first blow in their quest for a title.

You can check out the odds for the series opener here:

Warriors vs. Celtics Game 1 Odds

• Point Spread: Warriors -3.5
• Total: Over-Under 211.5 Points
• Moneyline: GSW -160, BOS +140

The Warriors opened as a 3.5-point favorite for Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals.

Even with heavy public action on the home side, these odds haven’t changed since first opening. Golden State has drawn a whopping 83 percent of all bets and 85 percent of the money wagered against the spread in this contest.

The C’s are drawing slightly action on the moneyline from light public bettors looking to net a larger profit from an upset. As of Tuesday morning, Boston is responsible for 22 percent of the moneyline action but just 11 percent of the cash.

The public is split on the total for the Finals opener. It went up on the board at 211.5 points and has remained stagnant despite 61 percent of tickets taking the Game 1 over. Many of these wagers are from casual players, evidenced by that side of the total drawing just 43 percent of the handle.

You can find more betting trends for each team ahead of the 2022 NBA Finals below:

Warriors vs. Celtics Betting Trends

The C’s are now taking a 5-1 straight-up and 4-0-1 against the spread streak against the Dubs into the 2022 NBA Finals.

While Golden State outright won in December by a 111-107 margin, neither team covered the four-point spread. Boston bounced back with a dominant 110-88 victory at Oracle Arena in March, outright winning and easily covering the two-point spread as underdogs.

The Warriors’ victory at TD Garden over five months ago marked the first time they had beat the Celtics since January 2019. Boston had won five straight between those matchups, including a trio of wins on the road against this opponent.

Few teams have traveled better than the C’s this season. Including the playoffs, Boston has gone 30-20 SU and 33-16-1 ATS—the best cover rate in basketball—away from TD Garden. The Warriors are narrowly above .500 on the road in the same span, posting a 25-23 SU and 20-26-2 ATS away record, the fourth-worst road cover percentage in the NBA.

Golden State has been strong at home, however, especially as a favorite. In games in which the Warriors are laying points at Oracle Arena, they have gone 38-9 SU—behind only the Chicago Bulls for best winning percentage in this situation—and 27-18-2 ATS. Boston struggled at times when getting points on the road, going just 9-16 SU but a much more respectable 15-9-1 as an away underdog.

Rest could certainly be a factor in Game 1. The Warriors have been off since May 27, the day they punched their ticket to the 2022 NBA Finals. The Celtics earned their hard-fought Game 7 victory on May 29, giving them two days less rest.

Boston also participated in 18 games leading up to the Finals, two more than the Warriors needed to reach this point.

With a rest advantage, the Dubs have posted a 17-8 SU and 13-10-2 ATS record during the 2021-22 NBA season and subsequent playoffs. The C’s have a losing record outright when playing with less rest than its opponent, going just 10-13 SU and 12-11 ATS in that same span.

2022 NBA Finals MVP Odds And Prop Bets

Although the NBA Finals don’t have as many prop bets available as the Super Bowl, sportsbooks still put up a plethora of intriguing exotics for this marquee event.

The most ubiquitous prop is the Finals MVP award winner. Bookmakers believe this is realistically a two-man race between Golden State’s Steph Curry (+105) and by Boston’s Jayson Tatum (+180), as no other player in the series has shorter than +1000 odds.

With that in mind, here is the full list of 2022 NBA Finals MVP odds:

• Stephen Curry: +105
• Jayson Tatum: +180
• Jaylen Brown: +1000
• Klay Thompson: +1400
• Draymond Green: +1400
• Jordan Poole: +3600
• Marcus Smart: +3800
• Andrew Wiggins: +4100
• Al Horford: +12000
• Kevon Looney: +18000
• Robert Williams: +23000

There are also odds for which player will average the most points, rebounds and assists during the 2022 NBA Finals, who will hit the most three-pointers in the series and plenty of other exotics to wager on at most shops.

Check back later in the week for picks and predictions for the series, Game 1 and some of the most popular props on the board for the 2022 NBA Finals.