Betting Futures and Anything Else on the NBA Finals
They have finally arrived folks, as our NBA Finals futures bets are about to be paid off. The NBA Finals are set to begin on Wednesday, two months after the first regular season game was played in the restart. There have been ups and downs, seven teams that made it to Orlando now finding themselves with a new coach. But, only two remain! The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.
There are several prop bets for the series which you can cash in on. A few bets that would be worth a look include total games in series (6, +260), leading scorer for the series (LeBron James, -106) and a dark-horse pick (Goran Dragic leading scorer, +8000). If Goran goes off like he has for much of the postseason, you can net a hefty gain.
This is going to be an exciting NBA Finals, as we’ll have a team claim their first title since either 2013, or 2010. Miami Heat has stayed the course since LeBron left, putting a competitive group out each season. They rebuilt without ever having to sniff the bottom of the standings. They haven’t won fewer than 37 games since before King James got to Miami.
And for the Los Angeles Lakers, the steady rebuild is not what got them here. It was pulling the trigger to send their top draft picks of the past few years to New Orleans to acquire Anthony Davis. All of their patience has come to a standstill and they wanted LeBron to have an elite running mate. They made it happen, and now King and the Brow are four wins from bringing a title to the Lakers, who hadn’t won a playoff series since 2012.
Exciting Series
The series promised to be exciting, and one that you should be betting on. Some of the other props to look at take us right to game 1. The first is Jae Crowder’s three-point total, the over/under set at 2.5 (-122). This is a slightly risky play given his poor effort in the final several games against Boston, but he can get out of the funk pretty quickly. Taking the over can net some nice cash.
The other Game 1 prop is for LeBron’s projected scoring total. It’s set at 28.5 (-104). If we know anything about LeBron, it’s that he holds nothing back in the Finals. They may as well set his total at 35 points. The same bet would be made if it were myself in position to make it. Bet the over, no question. He erupts like a volcano when we see him play in the final round.
Series Odds
Most of the props would lead those trying to spend less and make more to choose Miami Heat. All of the scoring props favor AD and LeBron, giving Miami players longshot odds. The gutsiest bet that could be made out of that would be Heat in 4, which carry +5000 odds. The chances of it happening are slim to none, but you never truly know. And if not, Heat in 5 carry +2000 odds.
Heat in 6 come in with +1200 odds, and if they win in 7, it’s +800. The most you can cash in off the Lakers is if they win in 7, with +550 odds. But all of this aside, the safest bet would be to take the Lakers to win the series, at -400. And if you’re looking at specifics, Lakers in 6, set at +375.
Among the storylines will be 20-year-old rookie Tyler Herro getting to play in the NBA Finals, the brightest stage. Dwight Howard with a chance to finish his redemption to the Lakers team and get his first ring, finally. LeBron winning a title in both conferences. And Danny Green joining LeBron and Robert Horry as notable players to win rings as parts of three franchises.
