One of the most anticipated matchups of the NBA season will take place on Saturday night when the Boston Celtics travel across the country to take on the defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. This matchup has a lot of sizzle as both the Celtics and Warriors currently sit in first place in their respective conferences. It’s quite likely that Saturday’s matchup could be a preview of the 2018 NBA Finals. According to the Boston vs Warriors NBA betting odds at 888sport, this game is due to be a close matchup, with the Warriors currently favored by 3 points.
While the Celtics and Warriors are not generally considered to be rivals, there is plenty of history between these two teams. Kyrie Irving, Boston’s point guard, has gone up against the Warriors in the past three NBA Finals as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. While injury kept him from contributing much in the first Cavs / Warriors series, Kyrie made his presence known the second time around, hitting the Finals-winning jumper to bring Cleveland it’s first NBA title in Game 7 of that series. Even though the Warriors went on to defeat the Cavs in Round 3 of the matchup last year, there’s no denying that there’s plenty of bad blood between Kyrie and the Warriors. Both sides are ready to take another crack at each other, with or without LeBron James being involved.
In this game, I expect two players to be the X-factor for their respective teams. For the Celtics, this is clearly Kyrie’s chance to prove that he can step outside of LeBron’s shadow and take on the Warriors on his own. He will have a lot to prove to himself and NBA fans in general. On Golden State’s end, you can expect Kevin Durant to come up big. Durant seriously considered joining the Celtics two years ago, but ultimately opted to join Golden State. He will want to prove that he’s made the right decision by dominating the Celtics.
In the end, this game may come down to the final few possessions, but I ultimately expect the Warriors to defend their home court and come out victorious. However, we’ll have to watch the game and see how things unfold.
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