NBA Finals betting tips, DFS picks for Game 1: Bets to make on Wemby, Bridges and more - ESPN

ESPN's basketball daily cheat sheet is your pregame destination before you lock in daily fantasy and betting decisions for that night's games. Here you'll find our top insights for the slate, including players to target for your daily fantasy rosters, along with game-by-game injury reports.

Basketball Power Index by ESPN Analytics. Injury aggregation by Rotowire.com. Odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook

New York Knicks at San Antonio Spurs
8:30 p.m. ET on ABC

Line: Knicks +4.5 (-108) | Spurs -4.5 (-112)
Money line: Knicks +154 | Spurs -185
Total: 217.5 (-112 O, -108 U)
BPI Projection: Spurs by 2.6, straight up 58%, 217.4 total points.

Injury report: Knicks: Mitchell Robinson (GTD — Finger); Spurs: David Jones Garcia (OFS — Ankle)

The NBA Finals are finally here! And, with one of the most anticipated matchups in recent memory, featuring the next generational player of the league in Victor Wembanyama leading his San Antonio Spurs against one of the anchor franchises in the New York Knicks, who haven't won a championship in more than half a century.

This is a rematch of this season's NBA Cup final, in which the Knicks defeated the Spurs to win the championship.

It is also a rematch between the same two franchises that played the 1999 NBA Finals, when Tim Duncan's Spurs defeated Patrick Ewing's Knicks to win the first of San Antonio's five championships. That was the last time the Knicks played in the Finals.

NBA history is on the line. Legacies are on the line. But what do we expect the action to look like on the court? Particularly in Game 1?

I'm glad you asked.

In this space, as we've done all season, let's dig into the matchup to identify some betting angles and some fantasy plays of interest. It's time to play for