Heat vs Celtics Conference Final Odds: Celtics Looking Beyond The Butler?

Heat Making No Excuses Ready to End Luck of The Irish

Celtics Prepare to Defend Home Court

The Boston Celtics will look to secure their home-court advantage to start their series with the Miami Heat as they do battle at the TD Garden for Game 1. Let’s take a look at the Heat vs Celtics Conference Final Odds and see where the early value sits for bettors.

The Celtics will look to carry over the momentum from their impressive Game 7 win over the Philadelphia 76ers in front of the same crowd that brought some much-needed energy to the team. Coach Joe Mazzulla hasn’t hinted at whether they’ll continue with their two-big lineup that featured Robert Williams III or if they’ll revert back to their most-used lineup that included Derrick White in the backcourt.

Things will be a lot more straightforward for the Heat as they continue to use what’s available at their disposal to put together another impressive playoff run. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo were both nursing niggles in their second-round matchup with the New York Knicks, but both are expected to be fine for Game 1.

The Celtics have been listed as 7.5-point favorites on the NBA betting lines, with the full game total set at 211.0 points. These teams split their regular season meetings 2-2, while both games in Boston comfortably went Over the total.

Heat logoHeat vs CelticsCeltics logo

Location: TD Garden
Day/Time:

Options Galore for Mazzulla

The Celtics will have plenty of firepower to throw at the Heat over the course of this series, but working out the best approach to start is a welcome problem for Joe Mazzulla and his coaching staff.

The Miami Heat have their own two-big lineup with Bam Adebayo and Kevin Love, but with both big men considered ‘undersized’ by modern NBA lineups, it might be a better approach to have Jayson Tatum back at the Power Forward position to matchup with Love.

That would create a huge mismatch on offense for Boston to exploit and could provide a huge opportunity to bet on the Celtics Team Total if they’re constantly given a point of attack in pick-and-roll action.

Forcing Spoelstra to be reactive might be Mazzulla’s best option to avoid being caught off guard and having the better roster should allow him to be more aggressive in finding lineups that put pressure on Miami’s defense.

If Miami removes Love in favor of Caleb Martin for defense then we could see Boston go back to running Rob Williams and Al Horford to give them a huge mismatch inside the paint.

Either way, it’s Boston that holds the roster versatility advantage in this series and Game 1 could be about them simply playing to their strengths and forcing Miami to come up with schemes to counter in Game 2.

Heat to Match Fire with Fire

As good as Miami are defensively they simply have to find a way to maximize their offense if they’re going to have any chance of stealing one on the road in Boston.

The Heat offense has certainly found rhythm so far these playoffs and their 3-point shooting against Milwaukee will need to be replicated here.

Erik Spoelstra has again done a terrific job playing to his teams strengths and their motion offense on the perimeter is certainly catching teams out given the play that you get inside from Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler.

Stretching Boston’s defense on the perimeter is the best way to attack them regardless of the lineup they run, which in turn could lead to a faster-paced game than what the market is suggesting with its full game total.

Attacking in transition and pushing off misses to attack a defense that isn’t set should allow the Heat to get the looks they want for their outside shooters and that will lend itself to a tempo that is closer to what we saw played in the regular season as opposed to the start of a Conference Finals.

The Over presents itself as the best value for this game and betting Over 211.0 points is the top look here as both teams look to feel each other out. Don’t expect to see too many counters or adjustments in the game either during Game 1, which should give us more possessions and opportunities for baskets at either end.

That’s all for our Heat vs Celtics Conference Final Odds preview, but be sure to check out all our NBA spreads and analysis previews for the rest of the NBA Conference Finals.


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