NBA Finals Odds: Cavs Pegged As Home Underdogs For Game 3 Vs. Warriors
The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves in familiar territory, facing a 2-0 series deficit, as they prepare to take on the Golden State Warriors as 4.5-point underdogs on the NBA Finals Game 3 odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Cleveland fell by double digits in the first two games of the series, capped by a lopsided 122-103 loss as 11.5-point underdogs in Game 2 on Sunday, but the Cavs have been dominant on home court during these NBA playoffs, winning eight straight ahead of Wednesday night’s Warriors vs. Cavaliers betting matchup at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavaliers also have covered the posted spread in their past four victories on home hardwood, all as betting favorites. However, the team has produced mixed results, both on the court and at the sportsbooks, when sporting positive odds at home, going 2-2 SU and against the spread in four games this season, and a middling 6-9 SU and ATS in 15 such outings overall since December 2014.
That run includes seven dates with the Warriors as home underdogs, in which Cleveland has gone 3-4 SU and ATS, highlighted by a 118-113 loss as 3.5-point underdogs in Game 3 of last year’s NBA Finals, which the Cavaliers also entered facing a 2-0 series deficit.
Being down 0-2 is nothing new for LeBron James and the Cavaliers. The team reached the NBA Finals for a fourth straight year after bouncing back from road losses in Games 1 and 2 to knock off the Boston Celtics in seven games in this year’s Eastern Conference finals, and also entered Game 3 of their 2016 NBA Finals matchup with the Warriors down two games before battling back to win the first title in franchise history, also in seven games.
Those recent heroics have not been enough to inspire the oddsmakers, though, who list the Cavaliers as massive +1350 underdogs on the NBA championship odds, well back of Golden State, which has soared to heavy -2500 chalk to successfully defend their title following their Game 2 victory.
Stephen Curry emerged as the star of the Warriors’ Game 2 triumph, wowing fans while setting an NBA Finals record by hitting nine shots from beyond the arc, powering Golden State to its 10th victory by a double-digit margin during the postseason.
However, the Warriors have produced ordinary results on the road in recent weeks, going 8-9 SU and ATS in their past 17 games as road favorites, according to the OddsShark NBA Database, including a meager 3-3 SU in the playoffs, averaging just 102.2 points per game in those postseason outings.
