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ESPN Staff Writer- Dave Tuley has covered the Las Vegas race and sports book scene since 1998 and runs his own website, ViewFromVegas.com.
After a full week of waiting, the NBA Finals that everyone wanted to see has arrived, with the Golden State Warriors taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers (aka the Cleveland LeBrons). This season's No. 1 team against the top player on the planet.
As we pointed out in the NBA conference finals betting guide, form has pretty much held during the postseason, with favorites advancing in 12 of 14 series, including sweeps of the past two rounds. The Warriors were minus-1000 favorites over the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference finals, while the Cavaliers were minus-215 over the Atlanta Hawks despite not having home-court advantage (and they showed they didn't need it, winning both games in Atlanta on the way to a sweep).
But as we also pointed out two weeks ago, while favorites continue to win series after series, underdogs have been successful on a game-to-game basis. That continued in the conference finals as underdogs incredibly covered the first seven games (note: Cleveland was a road underdog in Games 1 and 2 at Atlanta, and Golden State was a road 'dog at Houston in Game 3) before the Cavs and Warriors both covered as favorites in their series clinchers. Still, underdogs were 7-2 ATS in the conference finals and are 41-33-1 (55.4 percent) ATS overall in the playoffs. Unders are also 41-33-1 (55.4 percent) after going 6-3 in the conference finals.
Let's take a look at where the betting value lies in this marquee matchup, along with my ESPN Chalk colleague Erin Rynning, as we land on opposite sides in this series.
Note: Odds courtesy of the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.
