The NBA Finals tip off Thursday in Oakland with the Golden State Warriors playing host to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the series as 6-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Led by league MVP Stephen Curry, Golden State will be looking to end a 40-year championship drought dating back to 1975, which also marked the club’s last appearance in the NBA Finals.
The Warriors entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference after leading the league with a franchise-record 67 regular-season victories, including 39 wins on home court, just one shy of the NBA record of 40 set by the Boston Celtics in 1986.
Golden State will tip off in Thursday night’s Cavaliers vs. Warriors betting matchup at Oracle Arena with a 12-3 record in this year’s playoffs, but has been far from a slam dunk bet of late at the sportsbooks.
The Warriors are a weak 8-13 against the spread (ATS) in their last 21 games overall, and a disappointing 5-9 ATS when favored by more than five points.
However, Golden State’s inability to consistently dominate as a strong favorite has resulted in the point total regularly playing UNDER in its recent contests, going 10-2 in its last 12 games and 2-0 in its two matchups with the Cavs in the regular season. The Cavaliers and Warriors each claimed home wins in their two meetings this season, with each club also picking up the ATS victory.
Golden State has held the edge since LeBron James departed Cleveland for the Miami Heat in 2010, going 7-2 straight up (SU) and 6-3 ATS in their last nine games against the Cavs, according to the OddsShark NBA Database.
However, it was the Cavaliers who dominated the Warriors during James’ first stint in Cleveland, posting a 7-1 SU record in their prior eight meetings.
James will be looking to rekindle that success in this year’s NBA Finals. The Cavs’ leader picked up NBA Finals MVP honors during the Heat’s run to the title in both 2012 and 2013, but trails the 5-8 favorite Curry on the odds to win that award this season.
James sits at 17-10 on the NBA Finals MVP odds, followed by Curry’s “splash brother” Klay Thompson, who is pegged at 12-1. Thompson has been cleared to play in Game 1 on Thursday after suffering a concussion in the Warriors’ 104-90 victory over the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of the Western Finals, which clinched the series and set the stage for this week’s showdown with the Cavaliers.
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