The NBA Finals are set with the Golden State Warriors facing the Boston Celtics. The (series) opening tip is slated for Thursday, 06.02.22 after nine o’clock Eastern in the PM somewhere in San Francisco. In terms of Game 1, Golden State is favored by 3.5; in terms of winning the title, the Warriors are currently at -160 (while the Celtics are at +130).
Barring injury, if Golden State wins but Curry exits without his first Finals MVP, I’m not sure when or if he’ll ever get there. I’d be a little shocked if he doesn’t get it this season (unless Boston wins).
I’m not going to be here to post the results & reactions/updates as the series progresses. I know Nate will if he can & is available (has time). I’ll be tuned into the NBA Finals this year but I have a couple of thing s (at least) to do/focus on this summer. What I can say is that anything can happen despite the notion that Boston will get run out of the tourney. It’s possible, but if they lose Game 1, people will say the Warriors were spotted 72 hours & didn’t have to travel (twice). To be fair, the GSW are the better team, but far from the most accomplished franchise.
I can totally see this NBA Finals as a competitive back-and-forth contest, and I can see the opposite too. I’m not sure I can see Boston winning outright, but I don’t know if I’d bet for them to get run out the door either. The “original” trio of Curry, Thompson, and Green are still a big deal, but during a rather brief down period, they got to acquire some awesome talent that usually ends up with teams that just plain suck. BTW, I believe Payton returns on Thursday, and in addition, Poole & Wiggins are pretty good.
Steph Curry remains the NBA Finals MVP favorite, followed by Tatum and Brown. BTW, all the totals/line/whatever are courtesy of Fan Duel. With the exception of next week, all games are 3 days apart (days off for travel & practice). They’re not running things normally for games 1-2 as the series starts on Thursday. The league typically doesn’t start on Friday, and they’ve avoided Saturday games for quite some time. If the NBA finals go the distance, it’ll end on 06.19.22