NBA Title Odds: Spurs Closing Gap On Warriors; Celtics Have Outside Shot

The Golden State Warriors still are the favorites to repeat as NBA champions. But they’re not invincible, a fact the Boston Celtics reiterated last Friday by toppling Stephen Curry and Co. in their own building to snap the Warriors’ 54-game home winning streak.

Golden State’s latest slip-up hasn’t affected its NBA title odds, as the club remains at 5-7 odds to finish as the 2016 champion, according to Bovada. Yet the San Antonio Spurs have closed the gap ever so slightly, coming in at 3-1 odds to win the title after being pegged at 4-1 odds at the beginning of March.

In the process, the Spurs have leapfrogged over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had the second-best title odds on March 1 but now sit behind San Antonio with 4-1 championship odds. That’s still good for the best odds of any Eastern Conference team, as the No. 2 seed Toronto Raptors are well behind with 33-1 odds. Between the Cavs and the Raptors are the Western Conference’s No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, with the Oklahoma City Thunder slated at 12-1 odds and the Los Angeles Clippers pegged at 28-1.

The Boston Celtics lost some ground over the past month, losing four games in a row after Jae Crowder went down with a high ankle sprain. The C’s have bounced back with wins in six of their last eight games, but they saw their odds slip from 40-1 on March 1 to 50-1 as of Tuesday. Boston is a 16-1 long shot to win the Eastern Conference, with the Miami Heat (10-1), Raptors (5-1) and odds-on favorite Cavaliers (1-3) all in front of them.

Two key NBA awards appear to be runaways, as Curry is a virtual lock to win Most Valuable Player at 1-30 odds while Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is a 1-12 favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors.

Thumbnail photo via Erich Schlegel/USA TODAY Sports Images