In a massive twist of events, Kristaps Porzingis’ health is once again in question for the remainder of the NBA Finals and the Celtics’ 2-0 lead does not seem as safe as it did 48 hours ago. His injury, as laid out by Shams Charania, is a mouthful. To keep it simple, he tweaked a muscle to the back of his left calf (opposite leg of prior injury that saddled him for 5 weeks). The options for Porzingis are fairly straightforward: limited minutes, shut him down for Game 3 or shut him down for the NBA Finals entirely. From what I’ve gathered, it’s mostly related to pain tolerance. Because of the uncertainty, I will do my best to tiptoe around his injury as the Mavericks head back home for Game 3 to grab their first win of the series. Let’s dive into my best Celtics vs Mavericks player prop bets for Game 3, while you can also find out our NBA picks for every matchup in the 2024 NBA Finals.
Line available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
This line has a 100% hit rate on the road in the playoffs this postseason (with or without Kristaps Porzingis is irrelevant here, as it was hit in both games Porzingis played in as well). Tatum had 12 rebound chances in Game 2 and 15 in Game 1 and he has been converting these at a 74% hit rate this postseason.
Dallas appeared to be actively hunting Tatum in switches which is odd, but a small tweak for Game 3 I expect to see is Tatum back on the Center of Dallas (like in Game 1) and planting Tatum closer to the rim. The double-double does not offer too much value as I currently see it. The lines available are (-125) to (-120), but it will be difficult to replicate the 10 assists we saw in Game 2, so I’m sticking with just the rebounds in a game that could essentially lock up the series if Boston wins.
When handicapping player props, minutes are a huge factor for me. If you’re on the floor, you have the ability to fill up the stat sheet. For Tatum, he leads the Celtics in minutes by a wide margin (+4 mpg over Jaylen Brown) and is averaging 43.7 mpg in the series. Let’s roll with Tatum to reach double-digit rebounds tonight.
Read our full Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks Game 3 predictions
Line available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing.
$10 returns $73.30
Now find out our NBA expert’s Celtics vs Mavericks Same Game Parlay for Game 3 at +588 odds!
