The Boston Celtics look to put away the Dallas Mavericks tonight.

The pregame narrative: Boston has one hand on the Larry O'Brien Trophy with a 3-0 series lead. I can't envision the Celtics letting up so close to the finish line and am backing them to complete the sweep, alongside a Luka Doncic prop.

Check out these Celtics vs. Mavericks picks for Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday, June 14.

Mavericks vs. Celtics picks

Best Bet: Celtics moneyline (-107)

The Celtics haven't lost a game in over a month.

Boston is 10-0 since dropping Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinal to the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 9.

It has a +9.9 net rating in that span and has won its five road games by an average of 6.6 points.

Before the series began I thought Dallas could make the Finals interesting — but that hasn't been the case through three games.

The Celtics secured a blowout victory in the series opener and converted double-digit second-half leads in each game since.

Dallas fought back toward the end of Game 3 but it was too little too late and now there's blood in the water.

Doncic and Kyrie Irving need to be perfect for Dallas to win and Boston's defence has suffocated the duo.

Irving is shooting 40.0% from the field and Doncic is averaging 5.0 turnovers per game.

Secondary scoring has been non-existent for the Mavericks, allowing Joe Mazzulla to key in on stopping the star backcourt.

Boston has five players scoring more than 15 points per game — Dallas has none outside of Doncic and Irving.

The Mavericks' bench is also averaging just 15.0 combined points on 37.8% shooting per night.

Boston is the better, and deeper, team and I expect it to earn ring No. 18 tonight.

Key stat: Boston's current +11.2 net rating in the Finals is the highest since the Golden State Warriors swept the Cavaliers in 2018.

Quick pick

Doncic over 9.5 rebounds (-108): Doncic's defensive effort in Game 3 was furiously critiqued by ESPN's Brian Windhorst and I expect the point guard to respond with a gritty performance.

That will start with playing more dogged defence but also extends to crashing the glass, which is something Doncic has already done well this postseason.

The Slovenian is averaging 9.6 rebounds per game and has gone over this number in four of his last five outings, and in 13 of 20 playoff games.

Doncic leads the Mavericks in rebound chances per game (14.1) and will likely be getting north of 40 minutes of run tonight.

Picks made at 9:03 a.m. on 06/14/2024.