NBA parlay picks for Day 1 of the playoffs: Bet on Curry to torch Kings and back Boston at home

The NBA playoffs start this Saturday, featuring four games in an all-day marathon beginning at 1 p.m. ET.

The pregame narrative: All of the home teams are sizeable Game 1 favourites — except the Sacramento Kings. The defending champion Golden State Warriors, who were an abysmal 11-30 on the road this season, are the slimmest of underdogs as they begin their title defence. We’re staying away from a side in that game, but are betting on Steph Curry to do damage. 

NBA odds as of 4:33 p.m. ET on 04/14/23.

NBA parlay picks

Parlay: Celtics -5.5 + Curry over 27.5 points + CLE/NYK under 222.5 (+217)

Celtics -5.5 (-205): The Boston Celtics will look to get back to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season, and their path to the top of the Eastern Conference will begin Saturday versus the Atlanta Hawks.

Boston, the No. 2 choice to win the title at +350 odds, finished the season with an 8-2 mark to secure the second seed in the East. The Celtics were a powerhouse at home, going 32-9 (24-17 against the spread), and haven’t lost at TD Garden since March 5.

They won each of their final seven games of the regular season at home and all but one of them by six-plus points. The exception was an April 5 game that superstar Jayson Tatum sat out for.

Tatum will of course be playing in Game 1 and will be a problem for Atlanta’s No. 22-ranked defence (Boston was No. 2 in the NBA). Boston was No. 1 in offensive rating, leading to the best net rating (+6.7) in the league.

These teams met three times during the regular season and Boston covered this alternative spread in each of those games.

• November 16: 126-101
• March 11: 134-125
• April 9: 120-114

We’re confident they will do it again in Game 1.

Other parlay legs

Curry over 27.5 points (-205): Golden State is the lower seed and was putrid on the road, where they will start this series, but they aren’t expected to lose. The biggest reason for that: Steph Curry.

Curry averaged 29.4 points and can get as hot as ever, dropping six 40-point games this season, including one against the Kings.

Here’s what he did versus Sacramento in four games, leading to three Warriors victories.

That worked out to an average of 33.0 points per game. Expect Chef Curry to cook against the league’s No. 24-ranked defence.

Cavs/Knicks under 222.5 points (-235): The Cavaliers and Knicks played four times this season and two of the games fell well below this number.

The other two — their first and last meetings — went well above. Now in a playoff setting, we expect the game to play out more like those middle matchups and be a defensive-minded battle.

Cleveland had the NBA’s No. 1 defensive rating and was last in pace (the Knicks were 26th).

Don’t expect a run-and-gun affair for Game 1, which has a standard over/under of 215.5.