NBA Betting Tips: Celtics and Mavericks hold advantage

The NBA postseason continues on Monday night with the Boston Celtics taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers in game four of their Eastern Conference semi-final, while the Dallas Mavericks welcome the Oklahoma City Thunder for game four of their Western Conference match-up.

My NBA betting tips for Monday focus on these two matches, with a pick for each game.

Boston Celtics -8.5 vs Cleveland Cavaliers @ 10/11

The Celtics have regained control of this series after enjoying a commanding 106-93 road victory on Saturday night, and they now chase back-to-back away victories to move a step closer to securing a place in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Cavaliers stole game two in Boston, much to everybody's surprise, but the Celtics came out with a point to prove on Saturday night, and firmly put themselves back in the driving seat.

Jayson Tatum had his highest-scoring game of the play-offs so far with 33, while Jaylen Brown added 28, and I'm expecting more of the same from Boston's star duo moving forward.

The Celtics are clearly the better team here, and I think the game two loss was more down to Boston having an off night rather than being overpowered by Cleveland's quality.

The C's will be smelling blood as they have the chance to put the Cavs on the brink of elimination and secure the series back home at TD Garden, so I'm taking Boston to cover the spread.

Dallas Mavericks -3.5 vs Oklahoma City Thunder @ 21/20

The Dallas Mavericks have the chance to go 3-1 up against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder tonight, as they edged game three 105-101 last time out.

The Mavs appear to have found a third scoring threat to join stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving at just the right time. Fifth-year forward P.J. Washington looks to continue his impressive run, as he made made five three-pointers and finished with 27 points in Saturday's home victory, meaning that OKC have lost two-straight games after going 5-0 to begin the play-offs.

I'm expecting a response from the Thunder, but this could be where their lack of postseason experience comes back to haunt them.

Doncic, who finished third in the league's MVP voting, continues to play through a lingering knee issue, which has slowed him down a bit but he's still having an impact on this series, and Dallas have done a brilliant job of stepping up to ease the scoring burden.

OKC's biggest problem has been rebounding the basketball, losing the rebounding battle 15-6 on the offensive glass Saturday, and I'm expecting them to make some minor adjustments ahead of game four.

That being said, with Dallas being at home, and up 2-1, I'm taking the Mavericks to cover the spread here as this is a huge opportunity to put one foot in the Western Conference finals.

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