Mavericks at Celtics Betting Guide: 3 Player Props and Our Best Bet for Game 5

Dallas emphatically made their presence known for the first time in this NBA Finals series as the Mavericks thumped the Celtics 122-84 on Friday. Now, Dallas takes the road to attempt to extend the series in the Game 5 matchup in Boston on Monday, June 17.

Boston will have three more chances to close out a series they’ve dominated from the initial tip. The Celtics are 8-2 at home during the postseason, but Boston had been perfect away from TD Garden before Friday’s Game 4 loss.

Will Dallas continue to extend this series, or will Boston lay claim to their record-breaking 18th NBA title? We’ll cover that and our three top player prop bets as the Mavericks take on the Celtics on Monday night.

Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic UNDER 49.5 Pts + Reb + Ast

The Mavericks were able to ride a strong postseason performance from guard Luka Doncic into the Finals. The season’s league-leading point scorer had some of his best performances in the Western Conference Championship series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, averaging 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 8.2 assists in five games.

Against Boston, Doncic’s production has waned. The guard is still scoring 29.5 points in four games, but the rebounds (8.0) and assists (5.8) have dropped precipitously.

Doncic has eclipsed the 49.5-mark for his player-combo prop bet just once this series. Expect him to continue to fall short of this mark in tonight’s contest.

Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum UNDER 9.5 Rebounds

The Celtics rely on forward Jayson Tatum and guard Jaylen Brown to make this team go. Offensively, the pair is averaging 48.8 points, 15.6 rebounds, and 9.1 assists in 18 postseason games.

Tatum stepped into the leading role much of the past two series to help Boston reach the NBA Finals. The re-emergence of Kristaps Porzingis has allowed Tatum to take a step back from being the constant rebounding presence he was required to be in series wins without the 7-foot-2 foreign-born athlete.

Expect Tatum to continue to relax his presence on the glass and not cover this player prop bet for rebounds tonight.

Dallas Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving To Record 1+ Steals (-190)

The sense of urgency is apparent for Dallas to have a strong road performance tonight against the Celtics. Beyond Doncic, the Mavericks have relied on guard Kyrie Irving to produce, and the 6-foot-2 athlete has.

For the playoffs, Irving is recording 22.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists for Dallas. One stat that does not get highlighted is his ability to swipe passes from opponents. After recording two steals in the first game of this series, Irving has been in a drought.

Expect Irving to end his drought tonight against Boston and record at least one steal for the Mavericks in Game 5.

Best Bet: Boston -6.5

This should be the final game of the series. Boston has won 13 of their 15 postseason games by seven or more points, and this one should not be any different.

While I think Dallas will make this a close game, expect the Mavericks to foul down the stretch and that extends a potential three-point lead into a 7-10 point differential at the game’s end.