NBA Finals 2015: Odds, Prop Bets, Score Prediction for Cavs vs. Warriors Game 2
After appearing to be in control for most of Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers stalled in overtime and lost 108-100. The Cavs wasted another superhuman performance from LeBron James, who dropped 44 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
And to add injury to insult, Kyrie Irving went down in overtime and was subsequently diagnosed with a fractured kneecap. Irving underwent surgery on his knee and will be out the remainder of the series.
The Cavs were overmatched even with Irving in the lineup, and now, without him, the task of winning four games against the Dubs will be even tougher. But the series must go on, and you can never count out James.
Game 2 of the series will be Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. You can see the game on ABC. Let's take a look at some odds and prop bets for Game 2, as well as make a prediction for how the game will turn out.
According to Odds Shark, the Warriors are eight-point favorites at home for Game 2. The over/under is set at 200.5. As of this writing, 53 percent of bettors are backing the Warriors and 58 percent are taking the over.
It's tough to imagine the Cavaliers covering the eight-point spread without Irving. They will need an outstanding shooting performance from both Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith.
But even without Irving, the Warriors aren't taking the Cavs lightly. Steph Curry told Dave McMenamin of ESPN that they need to be wary of James and the players around him:
"We have to stay disciplined on the other guys around him knowing that they're talented, knowing that they can make plays, make shots, and we have to be as focused on them as we are on LeBron. But they play a different way without Kyrie. We've seen some footage of that in the last series that they played against Atlanta. So we've just got to be ready and stay locked in and focused on guarding everybody on the floor and stick to our game plan.
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Now let's have a look at a few prop bets, courtesy of Vegas Insider. The first one that stands out is Curry's combined total of points, rebounds and assists being over 40.5. Curry went for 26 points, four rebounds and eight assists in Game 1, so he was under that total.
But as Vegas Insider pointed out, Curry's point total was his lowest output since May 15. With Irving out, Curry won't have to expend as much energy on defense, which will allow him to have more gas on the offensive end.
Look for Curry to be extra aggressive early on in Game 2 and try to take a stranglehold on the series. He will almost surely attempt more than the six threes he threw up in Game 1, so he should have no trouble hitting the over on that stat total.
The other prop that catches your attention is an over/under on James' first-quarter point total, which is set at 7.5. James could be over that within the first six minutes of the game. He was in attack mode for the entirety of Game 1, and now he won't have help from Irving.
James knows what is at stake, so he's likely to come out and try to take over the game quickly. He will probably be playing point forward again, so he will surely try to set his teammates up. But he is the alpha dog on the team, so he will need to score early and often to give his team a chance.
A chance is all the Cavs have, though. Unless Tristan Thompson morphs into Dennis Rodman circa 1997 and Smith and Shumpert catch fire from deep, the Cavs will probably come up short. Warriors 104, Cavs 92.
