Golden State Heavily Favored to Beat Toronto in NBA Finals

For the fifth straight season, the Golden State Warriors are favored to win the NBA Finals even though they may not have high scorer Kevin Durant.

Sportsbooks released odds for the NBA Finals following Toronto’s win that clinched the Eastern Conference title on Saturday. The Warriors are -320 favorites to win the best of seven series that begins with Game 1 on Thursday May 30 in Toronto. The Warriors are also 1-point road chalk to win Game 1.

The Raptors opened as +260 underdogs on several sportsbooks. Over the last eight Finals, only the Cavaliers in 2018 were bigger underdogs at the start of the NBA Finals than are this season’s Raptors.

Golden State has been favored to win the last four NBA Finals all versus the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Warriors won three of the four over the Cavaliers.

Durant did not play any of the four games in Golden State’s Western Conference Finals sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers due to an injured calf. On Thursday, officials with Golden State said Durant was not likely to play Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Golden State has won 31 of the last 32 games in which Stephen Curry played and Durant did not. Overall, the Warriors are 34-4 with Durant out and Curry playing.

Toronto fell behind 0-2 in its Eastern Conference Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks only to win four straight and advance to the first NBA Finals in franchise history.

This past season, Toronto won both head-to-head meetings against Golden State. The Raptors won at home in overtime 131-128 on November 29 and defeated the Warriors at Oracle Arena 113-93 on December 12.