Boston Celtics (51-31, second in the Eastern Conference) vs. Golden State Warriors (53-29, third in the Western Conference)
San Francisco; Thursday, 9 p.m. EDT
LINE: Warriors -3.5; over/under is 212.5
NBA FINALS: Warriors host first series matchup
BOTTOM LINE: The Golden State Warriors host the Boston Celtics to open the NBA Finals. Golden State and Boston tied the regular season series 1-1. The Celtics won the last regular season meeting 110-88 on March 17. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 26 points, and Jordan Poole led the Warriors with 29 points.
The Warriors are 31-10 on their home court. Golden State is 6-5 in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Celtics have gone 23-18 away from home. Boston is second in the Eastern Conference with 46.1 rebounds per game led by Robert Williams III averaging 9.6.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kevon Looney is averaging six points and 7.3 rebounds for the Warriors. Stephen Curry is averaging 25.1 points over the last 10 games for Golden State.
Williams is averaging 10 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks for the Celtics. Jayson Tatum is averaging 3.2 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Boston.
LAST 10 GAMES:
INJURIES: Warriors: Otto Porter Jr.: day to day (foot), Gary Payton II: out (elbow), James Wiseman: out for season (knee), Andre Iguodala: out (neck).
Celtics: Sam Hauser: out (shoulder).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.