The Boston Celtics are two wins away from clinching their first NBA championship since 2008.

They can put the Golden State Warriors on the ropes with a win on their home floor tonight.

Teams that take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals are 35-1 all-time.

Meanwhile, the Warriors have been at their absolute best following a loss in these playoffs.

Golden State is 5-0 coming off a loss this postseason and has outscored its opponents by an average of 15.4 points per game in those victories.

Still, FanDuel Sportsbook currently has Boston as a four-point favourite for Game 4 tonight.

Can the Warriors pull off the road upset and send the series back to California tied 2-2?

I wouldn’t bet on it.

Here’s the TSN EDGE Morning Coffee for Friday, June 10th, 2022.

Celtics A Favourite To Go Up 3-1 In NBA Finals

The Celtics were -110 to win the NBA championship at FanDuel Sportsbook entering Game 3.

After a decisive 116-100 win to take a 2-1 series lead, Boston is now -230 to win it all at FanDuel this morning.

As highlighted above, Golden State is perfect following a loss this postseason.

Still, FanDuel has the Warriors at +142 to win tonight and +185 to win the series with a chance to tie it at 2-2 heading back to California for what would become a best-of-three.

I speculated in Thursday morning’s column that the public would be all over Golden State to bounce back. 

However, Steph Curry suffered an injury that he compared to a less severe foot sprain he suffered in March, which led to him missing the final month of the regular season.

This injury might not be as bad, but the fact that the Warriors’ best player by far won’t be at 100 per cent tonight should be a concern for anybody interested in backing Golden State.

Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 56 points in Game 3.

The Warriors lost by 16.

The Celtics have held their opponents under 50 per cent shooting in 17 consecutive playoff games.

Who steps up for Golden State if Curry isn’t at his best tonight?

On the flip side, Boston is up 2-1 in the series despite Jayson Tatum shooting just 33.9 per cent from the field.

Tatum still leads all players with 25 assists in the series, and if he can start hitting some shots then it will make the Celtics that much tougher to beat tonight.   

NBA favourites are 56-28 straight up this postseason, including the play-in. 

They’ve covered the spread in 49 of those 56 games – an 87.5 per cent cover rate.

After they won and covered for me in Game 3, I’m going to double down on Celtics -4 tonight.

Lightning One Win Away From Stanley Cup Final

Trailing the New York Rangers 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning were +210 to win the series at FanDuel Sportsbook.

After stringing together three consecutive wins, Tampa Bay is now -490 to win the series at +195 to win the Stanley Cup.

Ondrej Palat redirected the eventual game-winner past Igor Shesterkin with under two minutes to go in regulation.

Brandon Hagel added an empty-net goal with 59 seconds left as the Lightning won Game 5 3-1. 

Tampa Bay money line -124 and Lightning -1.5 +205 were both winners.

Palat to score and Tampa Bay to win was +450.

Hagel to score and the Lightning to win was +560.

Meanwhile, Andrei Vasilevskiy made several key stops but finished with 24 saves – five saves clear of the over/under 29 saves posted by FanDuel.

Vasilevskiy under 2.5 goals allowed was -118.

As somebody that bet on the Colorado Avalanche to beat Tampa Bay as my exact outcome of the Stanley Cup Final, I questioned whether I should bet on New York to win the East when they went up 2-0 in the series.

Instead, I bet Lightning money line in all three games since and now feel pretty good about my position as the series shifts back to Florida for Game 6 on Saturday night.

Stampeders Survive Tough Test From Als In Season Opener

On a memorable opening night at McMahon Stadium, Rene Paredes kicked a 38-yard, game-winning field goal as the Calgary Stampeders beat the Montreal Alouettes 30-27.

Ka’Deem Carey led the way for the Stampeders with 90 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.

Jake Maier went 4-of-5 for 57 yards to help set up Calgary’s game-winning field goal after Bo Levi Mitchell suffered an injury. 

The Stampeders were -200 on the money line.

Montreal covered as a 3.5-point underdog.

The total went well over 47.5

Considering the two teams combined for 38 points in the first half, I was just happy to earn the split with my first two picks of the CFL season.

I hit on Alouettes +3.5, but completely missed on the under 47.5.

Looking ahead to tonight’s game, FanDuel has the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as a 9.5-point favourite for their home opener.

The total is 47.5.

While I’m usually tempted to take the points with the underdogs early in the season, that won’t be the case for me with Ottawa tonight.

The defending Grey Cup champions went 11-3 straight up last season, including a perfect 7-0 SU at home.

They return as the Grey Cup favourite this season, and IG Field should be absolutely rocking tonight.

Instead of laying the points with Winnipeg, I’ll double down on the total and play under 47.5.

Last season, eight of the first nine games stayed under the total.

Only one of those games featured more than 43 points.

It’s a new season with new rules and plenty of roster changes, but the Blue Bombers and Redblacks went a combined 5-1 to the under out of the gate last season, so I don’t mind taking a chance with one unit on the under.