NBA Playoffs Betting Preview: Cavaliers Remain Class of Eastern Conference

The Cleveland Cavaliers (57-25) went through a tumultuous regular season that saw head coach David Blatt fired and star LeBron James again questioned for his lack of leadership, but the team still finished as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers are -260 betting favorites (bet $260 to win $100) to win the East and the +400 third choice (bet $100 to win $400) on the odds to win the NBA championship at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Cleveland went 27-14 under current head coach Tyronn Lue, which was worse than how the team performed under Blatt, who was 30-11 in the first 41 games. But that does not really matter if the Cavs end up winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June.

The most important thing is that Lue made sure James was rested as much as possible in hopes of keeping him 100 percent healthy for the playoffs, as he averaged a career-low 35.6 minutes and sat out six games with the team going 1-5 in his absence.

The Toronto Raptors (56-26) look to be the main competition for Cleveland at +500 to win the East, although James’ former team, the Miami Heat (48-34), earned the No. 3 seed in the conference and are +1,400.

The Raptors have a strong backcourt with All-Stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan that gave the Cavaliers trouble in winning two of three regular-season meetings both straight-up and against the spread, according to the Odds Shark NBA Database. The Heat also beat them twice in three games, including the last two by an average of 18 points.

Miami ended up winning the Southeast Division title in what turned out to be a three-way tie with the Atlanta Hawks (48-34) and Charlotte Hornets (48-34).

The Hawks had the top seed in the East a year ago before getting swept by the Cavaliers in the conference finals, and they are also +1,400 to advance to the NBA Finals this season along with the Boston Celtics, who they will face in the first round and also finished at 48-34 in the Atlantic Division.

The Hornets will play the Heat to open the postseason and are +3.300 to win the East, with the Central Division’s Detroit Pistons (44-38) and Indiana Pacers (45-37) the only teams sporting worse odds at +5,000 and +6,600, respectively, on the NBA betting lines at the sportsbooks.