NBA Finals odds, MVP favorites and schedule as Boston Celtics take on Dallas Mavericks

The 2024 NBA Finals are set.

The Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks will begin their championship series on Thursday after seven weeks of postseason play.

Each team won its respective conference finals in five games or fewer. The Celtics swept the Indiana Pacers in four games, and the Mavericks lost only Game 4 in their Western Conference Finals victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Boston, which owned the best record in the regular season (64-18), has home-court advantage and will host the first two games of the series. Dallas will host the following two, and Games 5-7 will alternate between the two cities.

Here are the odds and schedule for the 2024 NBA Finals, as well as which players are betting favorites to win Finals MVP. All odds are courtesy of BetMGM as of Wednesday.

2024 NBA FINALS: Who will win the title? Mavericks vs. Celtics picks, predictions and odds

2024 NBA Finals: Championship winner odds

Boston Celtics (-225)

The Celtics dominated just about every opponent they played in the regular season and postseason. They were the only team to finish the regular season with more than 60 wins. Then they went on to win every playoff series in five games or fewer to further establish their dominance over the Eastern Conference. There's a reason they're heavy favorites.

Boston has defeated the Mavericks twice already this season, once by nine points (before the trade deadline) and the other by 28 (in March). The Celtics have easily taken care of business in each of their postseason series so far, even without center Kristaps Porzingis – who averaged more than 20 points per game this season – in two of them.

Now he's ready to go, playing for revenge against his old team, and can help take Boston over the top alongside fellow top scorers Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Dallas Mavericks (+180)

This year, Dallas showed the league just how much a team can improve from trade deadline acquisitions. Over the November to January, middle-of-the-season stretch, the Mavericks were hovering right around the .500 mark and firmly in the play-in tournament – but not playoff – picture. Then they brought in P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford at the beginning of February.

The Mavericks went 21-9 after the trade deadline, good for the third-best record in the NBA down the home stretch. They won the Southwest Division and moved to fifth in the conference, avoiding the play-in. Washington and Gafford were immediately significant contributors. The former finished fourth on the team in scoring average, and the latter trailed only Luka Dončić in rebounds per game.

Both have continued to help push Dallas forward in the postseason as well. Washington is the team's third-best scorer by points per game and Gafford has averaged a team-high 1.8 blocks per game.

The Mavericks have their work cut out for them against a tough opponent, but those two will surely play a significant role to complement the stars: Dončić and Kyrie Irving.

2024 NBA Finals: Finals MVP odds

Jayson Tatum (-120)

Tatum is the face of the team favored to win. He's led Boston in scoring (26 points per game), rebounding (10.4 per game) and assists (5.9 per game) this postseason while averaging 40.5 minutes played per game. It is no surprise to see Tatum so high on the Finals MVP odds board even though Brown edged him out for Eastern Conference Finals MVP.

Luka Dončić (+200)

If Tatum is the face of the favorite, Dončić is the face of the underdog. He's similarly led his team in box score averages while playing 41.5 minutes per game on average. In doing so, he is nearly averaging a 30-point triple-double this postseason: 28.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. He also leads the team with 1.6 steals per game.

Jaylen Brown (+625)

The Eastern Conference Finals MVP and the Celtics' No. 2 scorer this season is also among Finals MVP favorites. Brown has had an excellent postseason run thus far, including a clutch 3-pointer to send Game 1 of the ECF to overtime and matching a playoff career-high 40 points in Game 2 against the Pacers. If he continues coming through in big moments to help lead his team to a title, Brown can take home another postseason MVP trophy.

Kyrie Irving (+1800)

Irving was everything the Mavericks could have hoped for in his first full season with the team. He had the second-best field goal percentage and third-best 3-point percentage of his career while averaging 35 minutes and 25.6 points per game. In the postseason, he's been a valuable No. 2 next to Dončić capable of creating space and hitting shots from wherever he is on the floor. If the Mavericks win the title and it isn't because of Dončić, it will more likely than not be because of Irving.

Derrick White (+3000)

White has stepped up as the Celtics' No. 3 scorer this postseason in Porzingis' absence. He's also led the team with a 6.4 assist to turnover ratio, more than double the rate of the next-best player (Al Horford, 3.0). White went off for 38 points in the Celtics' Game 4 win over the Heat in the first round, but he's largely been more of a quiet yet capable contributor. He has a chance to earn Finals MVP with more big scoring performances like in round one while also complementing the skills of his teammates, dishing them the ball while continuing to limit turnovers.

KYRIE IRVING: Mavericks star took long, complicated route back to NBA Finals

2024 NBA Finals: Schedule, how to watch

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HOW TO WATCH: Catch every game of the 2024 NBA Finals with an ESPN+ subscription

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NBA Finals: Odds, schedule and MVP favorites for Celtics vs. Mavericks