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After beating the Rockets in Game 7 and earning their way to a fourth straight NBA title, the Warriors have opened as massive betting favorites over the Cleveland Cavaliers, for both Thursday’s Game 1, and the series as a whole.
The Warriors are favored by 11.5 points in Game 1, and are -1100 to win the series, meaning you’d have to put up $1,100 to win $100, according to OddsShark.
#NBAFinals Odds @5Dimes
Series:#AllForOne +550#DubNation -800
Game 1:#AllForOne +11.5#DubNation -11.5
OU 217.5https://t.co/TfYD88hDtY pic.twitter.com/Dx70UbI1hh— OddsShark (@OddsShark) May 29, 2018
Now -1100 @5Dimes. https://t.co/2KqmjatBnw
— OddsShark (@OddsShark) May 29, 2018
Golden State won the Finals in five games last year, against a Cavs team that had Kyrie Irving, and was statistically better than this year’s version in almost every facet. This year’s Cavs, the four seed in the East, needed seven games to beat the Indiana Pacers in the first round, and seven to beat a Boston team missing its two best players, in the Eastern Conference Finals.
What’s more, LeBron James is averaging a ridiculous 41.3 minutes per game in the postseason.
This is the fourth consecutive season the two teams will meet in the NBA Finals.