The NBA Finals continue on Sunday.

The pregame narrative: The Dallas Mavericks got rocked by the Boston Celtics in Game 1 but I'm backing them to cover an alt spread in this one. Prop bets on Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis round out this +350 ticket.

Check out the full Mavericks vs. Celtics SGP picks for Game 2 on Sunday, June 9.

Mavericks vs. Celtics SGP picks

Parlay: Mavericks +12.5 + Brown over 21.5 points + Porzingis over 1.5 threes (+350)

Mavericks +12.5 (-275): Thursday's performance from Dallas was shocking.

The Mavericks found themselves down 21 points at halftime and never recovered.

They shot just 41.7% from the field and 25.9% from deep. Dallas' nine assists were the fewest in a Finals game since Cleveland matched that total in Game 1 of 2007, per John Hollinger.

Credit where credit is due: The Celtics played a fantastic defensive game. But I expect Luka Doncic and Co. to fight back on Sunday.

Dallas brought a 7-2 road playoff record into the finals and had covered this number in 10 straight games before getting shellacked.

And if we're looking into micro trends, a bounceback seems in order.

The Mavericks got blown out, on the road, in Game 1 against both the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder. They responded with outright victories in both Game 2s.

As for Boston, it lost Game 2 to both the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers after securing comfortable series-opening wins.

Dallas is far better than either of those teams.

Other parlay picks

Brown over 21.5 points (-205): Jason Kidd declared Brown the Celtics' best player following his dominant Game 1.

Was that some form of gamesmanship? Perhaps. But Brown's performance on the court lately is undeniable.

The shooting guard dropped 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting while being a menace on the defensive end. He's now gone over this prop in five straight games while shooting 52.5% from the field.

Since the start of the second round, Brown has cleared this mark in eight of 10 games. He's playing nearly 40 minutes a night and should blow by this number if he sees a slight uptick in volume.

Porzingis over 1.5 threes (-125): I backed Porzingis to make a pair of triples in my Game 1 SGP and he came through (though the bet as a whole didn't cash, no thanks to Mavericks +10.5).

Anyhow, I'm going back to that well on Sunday. Porzingis shot 37.5% from beyond the arc this season and cleared this bet in three of his four full playoff games.

He only played 21 minutes in Game 1 after returning from a knee injury but was flat-out dominant, scoring 20 points and adding three blocks.

In Porzingis' lone regular season game against Dallas, he went 4-of-8 from deep in 29 minutes of play. Here's hoping he gets a little more run in Game 2.

Picks as of 1:33 p.m. on 06/08/2024.