NBA Championship Odds Update: Warriors Lead Cavaliers, Spurs on Betting Lines
The Golden State Warriors (46-4) are off to a better start than the Chicago Bulls were 20 years ago when they set the NBA record for single-season wins with a 72-10 record.
That’s one of the reasons the defending champion Warriors continue to be strong even-money favorites to take home their second consecutive league title at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.
Golden State has won nine straight games and can pull within two of Chicago’s record home winning streak of 44 with a victory against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
The Warriors have also beaten their top three competitors for the Larry O’Brien Trophy over the past three weeks in convincing fashion, earning wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder by an average of 24 points.
The Cavaliers (37-14) are the +290 second choice to win the championship and heavy -475 favorites to make their second NBA Finals appearance in a row out of the relatively weaker Eastern Conference.
Led by LeBron James, Cleveland has a new head coach in Tyronn Lue, who is 7-3 straight up and 5-5 against the spread since taking over for David Blatt, according to the Odds Shark NBA Database.
The only other contender in the East with a decent shot to challenge the Cavs right now is the Toronto Raptors (35-16), who are +700 to win the conference and +2500 to win their first NBA title.
In the West, the Spurs (43-8) and Thunder (39-14) both lead their respective divisions by more games than Golden State, but each remain a tier below the league’s best team.
Oklahoma City played the Warriors tough at times on Saturday during a 116-108 road loss, although the Northwest Division leader ultimately came up short and failed to cover the spread as 7.5-point underdogs on the NBA betting lines.
Southwest Division leader San Antonio has played its last seven games without future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan due to a knee injury, with road losses coming at Golden State and Cleveland during that stretch.
The Pacific Division-leading Warriors are minus-180 to win the West, followed by the +180 Spurs and +650 Thunder.
The Los Angeles Clippers (35-17) may be an intriguing sleeper pick at +1600 to win the conference and +2500 to win the championship, depending on the status of Blake Griffin as the NBA trade deadline approaches on Feb. 18. Griffin is still out with a fractured hand.
