Happy Tuesday, everyone! We’ve finally made it to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Boston Celtics were certainly expected to be here, but the Indiana Pacers are a bit of a surprise.
The Celtics are heavy favorites in Game 1 and in the series as a whole, making the Pacers underdogs. It will be interesting to see if they’ll be able to build off of their success against the New York Knicks, or if that high-energy series will knock them off their game.
We’re certainly excited to watch this game go down tonight, hoping it’s going to be a close one. The Celtics did have the Pacers’ number during the regular season, beating them in three of their five matchups.
Two of those games were close, but the other three were blowouts, leaving tonight’s game to be a toss-up. While we’re not going to try and predict the over/under or who will win this game, we will give our best shot at some Underdog player props from the action. Let’s get into it!
Jayson Tatum didn’t need to be a superstar against the Cleveland Cavaliers to beat them in five games. He only averaged 26.8 PPG in the series, achieving 33 points in Game 3 and Game 4.
While he might have been relatively quiet throughout that series, we expect him to take over in Game 1 of this series. He can easily achieve 30 points when called upon, and with his points line being at 29.5, we had to take the over.
Plus, Tatum scored at least 30 points in every game against the Pacers in the regular season, an indication of what he can do against this team. Don’t stray away from him in this matchup.
This is a rinse-and-repeat analysis from Tatum. Jaylen Brown also had a massive regular season against the Pacers, achieving at least 30 points in three of their past four matchups.
Brown and Tatum seem to crush this team, and in a critical Game 1, we like both stars to have a big impact.
We’re dancing with the stars tonight. It’s no secret that Tyrese Haliburton is the leader of this team, and with Game 1 being so important, we expect him to be involved early.
Haliburton broke onto the scene early in the year with his impressive assist and rebounding totals. Considering the fact that he averaged 14.25 RA against the Celtics during the regular season, we’re riding his coattails into the playoffs!