NBA Eastern Conference Finals tips and predictions: Pacers @ Celtics - Game one

The Boston Celtics welcome the Indiana Pacers to TD Garden on Tuesday night, while the Minnesota Timberwolves welcome the Dallas Mavericks tomorrow.

Planet Sport will be providing the best betting tips for each game of the NBA Conference finals

Tuesday’s NBA bets

Indiana Pacers: Over 105.5 points

Over 220.5 points

 

Indiana Pacers @ Boston Celtics (0100 BST)

This is surely the year when the Boston Celtics win it all and lift the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy.

Joe Mazzulla’s team are stacked in every position and we predicted they’d reach this year’s finals, and they’ll be buoyed by the news that the Denver Nuggets, who are the defending champions, won’t be there.

The Minnesota Timberwolves dealt with them in seven games, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, Boston must see off a dangerous Indiana Pacers side.

Tyrese Halliburton and co dropped the Knicks in seven to make the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2014 when they lost to the Miami Heat.

We’ve seen all season long that the Celtics are in a class of their own. Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they crushed the opposition in game one of the previous series.

First, the Heat were downed 114-94 as Boston flexed their muscles and set the tone. Later, they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-95. They went on to win both series by a 4-1 margin.

We’re left with a meeting between two sides boasting offensive ratings above 120 this season, with the Pacers leading scoring during the playoffs.

We know defence is their weak point, although Rick Carlisle did oversee an improvement in the second half of the season. However, it’s dropped off in the post-season.

However, the numbers being marginally better don’t tell the full story. The full-court press has been successful in the playoffs, and we’ve seen some gritty performances.

Boston will need to find ways to space the floor with Porzingis, although their physical advantages should tell during the series.

On the other hand, the Pacers can excel by implementing their tempo and forcing turnovers.

It’s also possible that the Celtics won their previous game one outings with ease because they were up against weak sides. But here they’ll face a dangerous offence, so we expect scoring from both sides.