Free NBA Picks Today: Best Bets for NBA Finals Game 3

Free NBA Picks Today: Best Bets for NBA Finals Game 3

This article is part of our NBA Picks series.

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Best Bets

Jayson Tatum over 5.5 assists (-125) at Mavericks

DraftKings, 4:06 PM CT

Alex Barutha: I believe this is a good bet regardless of whether or not Kristaps Porzingis plays, which doesn't seem like it will be known until close to tipoff. I understand the hand-wringing about Tatum's scoring, but his passing has been a strong point throughout the postseason. He's averaging 6.3 dimes in the playoffs. In Game 1, Tatum handed out five assists, and he reached his 2024 postseason high of 12 assists in Game 2.

Daniel Gafford O8.5 points vs. Celtics (+105)

FanDuel Sportsbook, 4pm CT

Nick Whalen: The Mavs leaned more heavily on Gafford, as anticipated, in Game 2, and I think we see a similar approach in Game 3, whether Kristaps Porzingis is active or not. Maxi Kleber has been a disaster, while Dereck Lively is yet to leave his mark on the series. Gafford has gone over this number in 11 of the last 14 games, and if Porzingis doesn't play, that should present Gafford with better opportunities to finish – particularly lobs – at the rim.

Luka Doncic over 1.5 steals (-125) versus Boston Celtics

DraftKings Sportsbook - 1:15 p.m. CT

Kirien Sprecher: Doncic has been criticized for his defensive efforts in Games 1 and 2 but has six steals in the Finals so far. He also has multiple steals in four of the last five and has averaged 2.2 steals over the last 13 postseason games. While Doncic is getting blown by, he's taking chances in the passing lanes and should be able to create a few more turnovers in Game 3 even if he's not playing sound defense.

I'm taking the OVER on Jayson Tatum to score 26.5 points

(-115, DraftKings, 2:45pm)

Ken Crites: In short, the All-NBA First Teamer is due.  Tatum has been awesome through the first two games, doing EVERYTHING but scoring big.  Porzingis' freak injury could definitely dump more of the scoring load on Tatum, who averaged 26.9 points per game during the regular season.  Tatum is shooting only 31.6% in the Finals.  He's a career 46% shooter.  There is no way he continues to shoot this poorly.  It's time to regress to his awesome mean.  The K-Train is 35-29 this season, so feel free to fade!

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Alex Barutha
Alex is RotoWire's Chief NBA Editor. He writes articles about daily fantasy, year-long fantasy and sports betting. You can hear him on the RotoWire NBA Podcast, Sirius XM, VSiN and other platforms. He firmly believes Robert Covington is the most underrated fantasy player of the past decade.
Ken
An early RotoWire contributor from the 90's, K-Train returns with the grace of Gheorghe Muresan and the wisdom of Joe Gibbs. Ken is a two-time FSWA award winner and a co-host on the RW NBA Podcast. Championships incude: 2016 RW Staff NBA Keeper, 2019 RW Staff NFL Ottoneu Keeper, 2022-23 SiriusXM NBA Experts, 2022-23 SiriusXM NBA Kamla Keeper and 2023-24 FSGA NBA Expert Champions. Ken still owns a RotoNews shirt.
Kirien Sprecher
Kirien Sprecher is a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate who has covered the NBA, NFL and MLB for RotoWire since early 2021. In his free time, Kirien is probably arguing a foul call during a pickup basketball game at a local rec center.
Nick Whalen
Now in his 10th year with the company, Nick is RotoWire's Senior Media Analyst, a position he took on after several years as the Head of Basketball Content. A multi-time FSGA and FSWA award winner, Nick co-hosts RotoWire's flagship show on Sirius XM Fantasy alongside Jeff Erickson, as well as The RotoWire NBA Show on Sirius XM NBA with Alex Barutha. He also co-hosts RotoWire's Football and Basketball podcasts. You can catch Nick's NBA and NFL analysis on VSiN and DraftKings, as well as RotoWire's various social and video channels. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @wha1en.
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