Easy Work? Why Celtics Will Steamroll Mavericks In NBA Finals

First things first: This Celtics-Mavericks breakdown for the NBA Finals has a chance to age quite poorly!

That being said: We think the Celtics should make quick work of the Mavs in their quest for banner No. 18.

NESN.com's Mike Cole and Ricky Doyle spent a good chunk of this week's episode of "The Spread" podcast previewing the NBA Finals ahead of Game 1 on Thursday night at TD Garden.

The Celtics, 6.5-point favorites in the opener, are also considerable favorites to win the series. Sportsbooks at DraftKings and FanDuel each have the Celtics as greater than -200 chalk. Mike and Ricky are leaning hard into Boston being the much better team from top to bottom despite the Mavs' game-changing 1-2 punch of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Here are the three NBA Finals bets each touted on this week's episode of "The Spread."

Mike:
3-unit: Celtics series spread -1.5 games (+100)
2-unit: Jayson Tatum OVER 10.5 rebounds per game (-130)
1-unit: Kyrie Irving NBA Finals MVP (+2200)

Ricky:
3-unit: Celtics win Game 1 AND the series (-130)
2-unit: Jaylen Brown scores more points than Kyrie Irving (+120)
1-unit: P.J. Washington averages 2.5 3-pointers per game (+150)

While the betting public might be tantalized by Doncic, Irving and that big plus in front of the Mavericks' number to win the series, the "Spread" duo said they can only go off what they see in front of them -- for better or worse.

"We're really coming at this with green-colored glasses, huh?" Doyle said on the podcast, as the two realized they were heavy on the Celtics.

"It feels like we're being gaslit to think otherwise," Cole replied. "I'm not the sucker for taking the (64-win) Celtics!"

Doyle added: "I also feel like we've probably been two of the bigger Celtics skeptics for the last decade. ... And now where we are, and I'm like, 'I think you're all going too far in the other direction, man.' I dunno, this team is pretty friggin' good."

Game 1 of the NBA Finals is set for Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.

What do you think about these picks? Tell Mike and Ricky how wrong they are in the comments below.