Celtics vs. Warriors prediction, pick, odds, spread, line for 2022 NBA Finals

Sometimes we get to the end, and we can’t help but feel somehow cheated. After a rigorous 82-game schedule and a grueling postseason, occasionally it seems that we end up with the wrong teams in the NBA Finals, whether that’s due to injuries, an improbable buzzer-beater, poor officiating, or just plain dumb luck.

That’s not the case this year, however, as the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors will meet in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, in a battle of the two best teams of the postseason. Of course there have been injuries along the way, like any year, and we can talk about the Phoenix Suns‘ conference semifinals Game 7 collapse as a potential “yeah, but what if” blemish on the Warriors’ path back to the Finals. But it’s difficult to argue that Boston — the top team in the league since late January — and the Warriors with their stars healthy somehow haven’t earned their place in the Finals.

The matchup itself is a juicy one, with the Celtics boasting the best defense of the regular season and second-best of the playoffs, as the familiar Warriors faces of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have led the postseason’s best offense. On paper, the series is chocked full of intriguing matchups and, in a way, symbolizes an old-versus-new battle for league supremacy.

The Warriors enter as the tried and true blue-blood, making their sixth Finals appearance in eight seasons, with three titles to show for it. The Celtics, on the other hand, have reached the Finals for the first time since 2010 while being led by two stars in their mid-20s — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — along with a first-year head coach in Ime Udoka.

All of this makes the series extremely difficult to predict, but most agree that it should be a long and exciting one. Before we get ahead of ourselves, however, we need to start with Game 1. Our CBS Sports NBA experts have taken a crack at predicting not only who will win the first game of the 2022 NBA Finals, but also the exact final score — how’s that for bold? Read through the predictions below, along with viewing information for Thursday’s NBA Finals opener.

How to watch Game 1 live

Game: NBA Finals, Game 1
Date: Thursday, June 2 | Time: 9 p.m. ET
Location: Chase Center — San Francisco, California
TV: ABC | Live stream: fuboTV (Get access now)
Odds: BOS +145; GS -170; O/U 212.5 (via Caesars Sportsbook)

Featured Game | Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics

Celtics vs. Warriors prediction, Game 1 picks

Brad Botkin: There’s a lot of talk about rest in here. Boston is rested enough. It hasn’t played since Sunday. I picked the Celtics to win the series and a portion of that logic is derived from taking an early lead. Golden State’s offense is atypical and takes a while to get used to? Same can be said for Boston’s defense. I like Boston’s individual shot creation better than Golden State’s, and that applies to the series as a whole as well as any given game. Pick: Celtics +3.5 | Celtics 108, Warriors 101

James Herbert: My brain tells me that this will be a low-scoring feel-out game, given that these are the two top defenses in the NBA. My brain also tells me that the Warriors will win comfortably, since they almost always start series well, the Celtics are a miraculous buzzer-beater away from being 0-3 in openers during these playoffs and Golden State’s offense is a shock to the system. But I don’t trust my brain when it comes to predicting the outcome of a single basketball game. These teams are evenly matched, so maybe the Warriors will get sloppy and Boston’s offense will get going. Let’s get crazy. Pick: Celtics +3.5 | Celtics 123, Warriors 115

Michael Kaskey-Blomain: Heading into Game 1, the Warriors will be the more rested team, and they’re certainly the more experienced team, meaning that the moment is less…