NBA Finals 2017: Warriors vs. Cavaliers Game 1 Odds, Prop Bets and Predictions

The 2017 NBA Finals are set to kick off this week. To exactly no one's surprise, it's another rematch between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

While this matchup was widely anticipated through the entire 2016-17 NBA season, there should still be plenty of drama to keep fans excited throughout the series. Those looking for even more excitement, though, will probably be looking for some extracurricular action.

We're here to help with the latest Game 1 odds, courtesy of our friends at OddsShark.com. We'll also examine some intriguing prop bets and make our own predictions for each.

2017 NBA Finals Game 1

What: Cleveland at Golden State

When: Thursday, June 1

Time: 9 p.m. ET

National TV: ABC

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Odds: GS 1-3

Props and Picks

Race to 100 Points

One of the more interesting props for the series over on OddsShark.com involves which player will reach 100 points first. The list of players and odds is as follows:

LeBron James: 7-4

Stephen Curry: 3-1

Kevin Durant: 7-2

Kyrie Irving: 9-2

Klay Thompson: 17-2

Kevin Love: 10-1

Field: 16-1

We're going to go with Cavaliers star LeBron James for this prop for a couple of reasons. The first is that James is typically a bigger piece of the Cleveland offense than even a player like Stephen Curry is to Golden State's.

Sure, the Cavaliers can rely on guys like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love for an offensive boost, but it's generally James shouldering the load. With the Warriors, we could see Curry, Klay Thompson or Kevin Durant taking over the offense on any given night—with a different player taking over the next night.

The second reason is the rate at which James tends to score. He led both teams with an average of 29.7 points per game in last year's finals. He's averaging 32.5 points per game this postseason. The only player to average more in the playoffs so far is the Oklahoma City Thunders' Russell Westbrook.

In this year's playoffs, James surpassed legend Michael Jordan for the all-time leading playoff scorer.

"For my name to come up in the discussion with the greatest basketball player of all time, it's like, 'Wow,'" James said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com.

At his current rate, it should take James roughly three games to reach the 100-point mark. That's pretty fast for a playoff series and why we're going with James.

James Under 187.5 Points

While we like James' ability to produce points in the postseason, we're actually going to take the under in a prop with the over/under set at 187.5 points. 

The biggest reason for this is the defense of Golden State, which has limited teams to just 102.0 points per game in the postseason. Only the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers have allowed fewer points this postseason. This will be the stiffest defense the Cavaliers have faced in the playoffs.

Therefore, it's more likely that James' points-per-game average will be closer to the 29.7 points in last year's finals than the 32.5 points he's averaged this postseason. At roughly 30 or 31 points per game, the series would have to stretch to seven games for James to score 188 points.

The likelihood of the finals going to seven games—even with these two teams involved—isn't particularly high. Only three of the last 10 and four of the last 22 finals have gone just four games. Even when the Cavaliers were up 2-1 two years ago, the finals only lasted six games.

Regardless of which team takes the title, the odds are better that the series doesn't go seven full games. It's difficult to see even James get to 188 points if it doesn't.

Curry Leads Series in Steals

James is the favorite in another Finals category, but we're not going to pick him. We're actually going to go with Curry for the most steals in the series.

While James is a more physical defender, Curry relies more on spacing and playing the passing lanes on defense. This allows him to grab steals without having to physically take the ball away from the offensive player.

This technique allowed Curry to finish the regular season seventh in steals with an average of 1.8 per game. James is averaging 2.15 steals per game for the postseason, but he hasn't yet faced a team that moves the ball around the court as well as Golden State does.

The full odds for steals in the series is as follows:

LeBron James: 9-5

Stephen Curry: 2-1

Draymond Green: 3-1

Kyrie Irving: 9-2

Field: 5-1

Game 1 Pick

The Warriors are favorites to win Game 1, and that's who we're going to go with. There are a couple of reasons why, but the main one is that the team has home-court advantage. They're also more rested after sweeping every series in the postseason to this point. 

The Cavaliers have only played one more game than the Warriors, but this is still a physical advantage. Don't be surprised if the Cavaliers steal one of the first two games at Golden State, but we don't think it'll be the first one.