It's fitting that the Celtics used a dominant third quarter in Game 3 to take a 3-0 series lead.
By the end of Friday night, the Celtics may have their first championship since 2008. If so, Derrick White likely had another strong defensive game.
Meanwhile, P.J. Washington will look to help the Mavericks keep their season alive by contributing on the glass.
Read on for my NBA player prop bets and Game 4 Derrick White and P.J. Washington picks.
Derrick White Over 1.5 Blocks (+168)
After consecutive All-Defensive Second Team selections, it's safe to say White has established himself as one of the game's best defenders. In the regular season, he led all guards with 1.2 blocks per game, and he's upped that average a smidge to 1.3 in the postseason.
He's blocked at least one shot in eight of his past 10 games. White has had two blocks in five of his past eight games while averaging 1.8 per night in that span.
In this series, White and his teammates — primarily Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown — have had a difficult task in trying to slow down Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
White does have a three-inch height advantage on Irving, and he's used it to his advantage. Two of White's four blocks in the last two games have come while defending Irving.
In Game 3, Irving enjoyed his best game to date with 35 points while shooting 13-for-28 from the field.
With the Mavericks on the brink of elimination, Irving figures to remain aggressive and take north of 20 field goals. That'll also give White more chances to block one of them, most likely on one of Irving's drives to the basket.
White is averaging 38 minutes per game in this series. If he gets at least one block on Irving again, he'll have virtually the entire game to get another, either on Irving again or any other Mavericks player.
If he does so, he'll cash a very generous price at +164 odds.
Pick: Derrick White Over 1.5 Blocks (+168)
P.J. Washington Over 6.5 Rebounds (-135)
Through the first three games of the NBA Finals, Washington is averaging 7.7 rebounds per game. He's hit this line in all three NBA Finals games thus far, and the streak extends to four dating back to Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.
Washington has landed between seven and eight rebounds in six of his last 10 games, and he also has another game with 10 in that stretch.
While playable on the alt line of 7.5, I'm going with 6.5 here, considering the 30% increase in hit rate over his past 10 games.
In that span, Washington has averaged 11.3 potential rebounds per game. Many of them have come on the defensive end, with a few off misses on long 3-pointers.
The Celtics are attempting 42.3 3s per game in this series. That's contributed to an average rebounding distance of 6.9 feet, per NBAStats.
However, Washington has six offensive rebounds in this series, as well.
Washington had a series-high 14 potential rebound chances in Game 2 and converted seven. He had five less potential rebounds in Game 3 — as the Celtics made seven more 3-pointers — but he still ended up with eight rebounds.
If he maintains his average of 11 potential rebounds, he'll need to collect 63% of them to clear this line.
Considering that he has a 69% conversion rate in this series, I feel good about his chances of getting seven tonight.
Pick: P.J. Washington Over 6.5 Rebounds (-135)
