NBA Finals First Basket Prop Picks: Al Horford, Jaylen Brown Among Top Plays for Game 1

NBA First Basket will break down some of his favorite NBA plays of the day here, and will track all his bets in The Action Network app.

Jaylen Brown | Al Horford | Robert Williams

The Boston Celtics open Game 1 of their NBA Finals series on the road against the Golden State Warriors after three days of rest.

Either Celtics center Al Horford (63% opening-tip win rate) or Robert Williams (59% win rate) will be taking on Kevon Looney (33% win rate) at center court for tip-off. Horford has not faced Looney in a tip this season, but Williams and Looney have each won one tip-off against each other this season. Still, Boston should have a solid advantage on the tip-off either way.

The Celtics first in the league at scoring first, doing so 65% of the time. Meanwhile, the Warriors are below league average and score first just 38% of the time. For the playoffs, Boston has scored first in 61% of its games while the Warriors have tailed off significantly and scored first in just 19% of its games.

I'm going to focus on Celtics players in Game 1. Jaylen Brown and Horford exact methods are my favorite plays and I’m adding in a small first basket play on Williams based on the Warriors' relative weakness against the center position for first baskets.

Picks:

• Jaylen Brown Exact Method: 3-pointer (+1200, Risk 0.3 units)
• Jaylen Brown Exact Method: 2-pointer (+600, Risk 0.5 units)
• Al Horford Exact Method: 3-pointer (+2500, Risk 0.1 units)
• Robert Williams First Basket (+800, Risk 0.3 units)

Celtics vs. Warriors First Basket Data

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