NBA Finals Betting: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors Game 5 Odds

The Golden State Warriors finally saw their two top scorers go off in the NBA Finals, and that has given them the opportunity to win back-to-back championships at Oracle Arena in Game 5 on Monday night.

The Warriors won last year’s title on the road in Game 6 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they are listed as 5.5-point favorites at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark to clinch it at home this time around in Game 5.

Thanks to an NBA Finals-record 17 three-pointers in Game 4 at Cleveland, Golden State upset the Cavs 108-97 as a 2.5-point underdog Friday. The Warriors won for the eighth time in nine meetings straight up and covered the spread for the seventh time over that stretch, according to the Odds Shark NBA Database.

Two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry scored a series-high 38 points that included seven three-pointers while Klay Thompson added 25 with four from beyond the arc. Neither had managed to score 20 or more in the first three games, as their teammates stepped up instead to give them an edge.

Cleveland’s LeBron James padded his stats late in Game 4 and finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. James played a game-high 46 minutes and got to the free-throw line only four times—drawing the ire of head coach Tyronn Lue—while making two of them.

As a team, the Cavs converted just 15-of-26 shots from the charity stripe, and Lue was vocal after the game in saying that his star was not getting enough calls.

The bigger issue for Cleveland was its supporting cast, as Kevin Love returned from a concussion and contributed 11 points and five rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench. The rest of the team’s reserves combined for four points, three rebounds and one assist.

Meanwhile, Golden State’s bench totaled 22 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, its lowest production through the first four games, but still better than the Cavs.

The Warriors will need to lean on their role players and home-court advantage in Game 5 even more now with power forward Draymond Green suspended due to an incident with James in Game 4. Green led Golden State with 28 points in Game 2 and will likely be replaced in the starting lineup with Andre Iguodala, last year’s NBA Finals MVP.

The defending champs had opened as eight-point favorites, with the line gradually moving down after speculation circulated that Green could be assessed his fourth technical foul of the playoffs, leading to an automatic one-game suspension. That speculation became a reality Sunday.