Heat vs Celtics Conference Final Bets: Does History Await Boston?

The Better Team Will Come Out in The Wash: Count on Dogfight in Game 7

May 29, 2023 106 3 minutes readNBA Picks & Parlays

Heat vs Celtics Conference Final Bets: History Awaits in Boston — MIKE EHRMANN / GETTY IMAGES

Celtics on Verge of Memorable Comeback
Celtics Ready to Make History
Heat Need the Best Butler on Display

Celtics on Verge of Memorable Comeback

For the second straight season, the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat prepare for Game 7 to decide who will go to the NBA Finals. Let’s get into our Heat vs Celtics Conference Final Bets and see what to expect for this historic showdown.

The Celtics secured one of the most memorable elimination wins in NBA history when Derrick White’s buzzer-beater tip-in staved off elimination and set up a Game 7 in Boston. The Celtics are now one win away from becoming the first team in history to overcome an 0-3 series deficit – to date, teams in that situation are 0-149.

Meanwhile, the Heat are doing their best to remain buoyant despite the crushing defeat. After the game, coach Erik Spoelstra said, “At this time right now, I don’t know how we are going to get this done, but we are going up there and getting it done.”

Despite the bold statement the Heat currently sit as 8.5-point underdogs for Game 7. The full game total has been set at 203.0 points.

Heat vs Celtics

Day/Time: Monday, May 29, 6:30 p.m.
Location: TD Garden

Celtics Ready to Make History

After the emotional high of stealing a memorable road win Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla remained focused on the task at hand. When asked what went through his mind when he saw White’s shot go in he simply added: “Nothing. Game 7”.

We can talk through the X’s and O’s on how the Celtics have managed to turn this around but the reality of it is simple according to Mazzulla.

“Those guys had a choice to make, and they chose to believe in each other,” he said.

Game 6 hero White echoed the same sentiments. “If you’ve been around us all season, you see how close this locker room is,” he said.

“When times are tough, it’s easy to kind of point the fingers. But we just stuck together and cared for each other and we’ve got one more game to go.”

If Boston plays together – moves the basketball on offense and communicates on defense – they are clearly a level above Miami, as indicated by the market pricing for Game 7. However, if they fall back on bad habits as we saw at the end of Game 6 then this team will remain their own worst enemy.

Heat Need the Best Butler on Display

Jimmy Butler is the undeniable leader both on and off the court for Miami and right now they need him to replicate his off-court swagger on the court for the full 48 minutes.

After starting the series as the best player in the series, Butler has averaged 20.7 points per game on just 36.9% shooting from the field in the last four games, including 27.2% from beyond the arc.

Boston’s switch defense has limited the driving lanes available and the space in the midrange seems to be non-existent at the moment. That said, the fans were again shown how he can carry this team on his back as he led the fourth-quarter comeback that saw them take a 1-point lead with 3.0 seconds remaining following his made free throws.

The Heat have sat atop the NBA standings in 3-point efficiency all playoffs and if they can marry that hot shooting with an efficient performance from Butler they’ll have every reason to believe they can avenge last season’s loss and book their ticket to the NBA Finals.

The Celtics haven’t come this far to blow the opportunity before them. Confidence is a powerful weapon and wrestling back momentum from this team in front of a packed TD Garden just seems too much for this Miami team to overcome.

We’ll be playing some Game 7 Unders once again as our NBA picks best bet for this one. Expect a very slow-paced second half where field goals are at a premium and tired legs become a very big factor.

That’s all for our Heat vs Celtics Conference Final Bets preview. Be sure to check back for all of our NBA Finals previews and analysis following the conclusion of this series.