Warriors Heavy Favorites Heading Into NBA Finals Rematch With LeBron’s Cavaliers

USA Today

The Cleveland Cavaliers were abe to advance to the NBA Finals for the third straight year on Thursday night by getting the best of the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. LeBron James and company were able to make easy work of the Isaiah Thomas-less Celtics setting a rematch with the Golden State Warriors on the biggest stage in the NBA.

As expected, the Warriors are favored to become NBA champions for the second time in three years. Golden State is heavy favorites while the Cavaliers are underdogs once again, according to ESPN’s Ben Fawkes:

After both teams dominated their respective competition so far in the playoffs, Las Vegas believes the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will be competitive.

And once again, LeBron James’ team will be the underdog.

The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook installed Golden State as a -260 favorite, with Cleveland at +220.

Coming into the 2016-17 NBA season, all eyes were on the defending Western Conference champion Warriors after arguably the best team in the league got even better with the addition of superstar Kevin Durant. Golden State was the favorite to win it all right out of the gate, and they have disappointed cruising the NBA Finals for a third straight year without losing a game in the playoffs.

The defending NBA champion Cavaliers were also expected to return to the NBA Finals but considered the underdogs from the get-go due to the arrival of Durant in Oakland.

Game 1 of the NBA Finals will get underway on Thursday with the Warriors hosting the Cavaliers at Oracle Arena in Oakland. The first two games of the series will be played in the Bay Area before the series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 and 4 next week.