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Best Bets
Jaylen Brown over 23.5 points (-125) vs. Cavaliers
DraftKings, 3:50 PM CT
Alex Barutha: Kristaps Porzingis remains out and is not expected to return in this series. Boston has leaned on Jaylen Brown more in Porzingis' absence. With five first-round games against Miami as a sample, Brown sees a 13.7% usage increase with the big man off the floor, resulting in 30.0 points per 36 minutes.
Celtics -4.0 first-quarter spread vs. Cavaliers (-108)
DraftKings Sportsbook, 1pm CT
Nick Whalen: The full-game line is up to Boston -12.5 at DraftKings, which I'm OK with taking, but I prefer to lean on the Celtics continuing to get off to hot starts, which they did for most of their Round 1 series against Miami. In that series, the Celtics posted a +32.4 NET rating in the first quarter while holding the Heat to a 90.8 offensive rating. Boston finished the series at plus-41 on the first-quarter scoring margin, winning the first period by an average of just over 8.0 points per game. Meanwhile, the Cavs were only +5.1 in the first quarter against Orlando and were plagued by notably slow starts in three of the final four games of the series. Playing at home with a significant talent advantage, give me Boston to jump out to a sizable lead early on.
I'm taking the OVER on Jayson Tatum grabbing 8.5 rebounds
(FanDuel, -130, 4:10 EST)
Ken Crites: With Kristaps Porzingis out, the other Celtics all need to work harder on the boards. Tatum has done just that during the post-season and averaged 10.4 boards versus Miami in Round 1. I think that trend continues tonight, especially with Jared Allen not likely to play (officially "Questionable" as of 4pm ET). Despite their interior size, Cleveland is not a strong rebounding team. They ranked 20th in team rebounds per game over the regular season. I smell a double-double for Boston's MVP candidate.
