Will the Value Be there For Wagering on the Warriors?
All season long, there has been some kind of feeling of inevitability to the Golden State Warriors winning the NBA Finals. This was caused by all of the talent on their roster combined with the fact that they’ve done it before. But belief in the Warriors might be starting to slip, which could signal to bettors that it is actually a decent idea to back Golden State for the first time all season.
The biggest reason for this is the fact that the Warriors are finally entering odds where there might be some value in backing them. Sports betting is all about finding beneficial odds wherever possible, even if it comes in the form of a favorite that is slightly undervalued. In this case, the Warriors are entering that territory, as their title odds have begun to fall from the expensive odds they had earlier in the year.
In fact, odds for NBA betting on bet365 have the Warriors at under -200 odds to win the championship this year, something that hadn’t happened in the regular season due to just how good they looked. They aren’t breezing through all of their playoff games, hence the sudden shift, but there might not be enough cause for concern to justify the line movements that bettors may be able to take advantage of.
Golden State lost once in the first round to the Los Angeles Clippers, a team that greatly overachieved last season. And the loss that they did suffer was something of an aberration, as the Clippers came back from 31 points down in the second half to secure one of the most improbable comebacks in the history of the NBA Playoffs. From there, the Warriors won four straight, and haven’t looked particularly labored since. Even Kevin Durant, who is being linked to other teams this offseason, is having fun in the team’s latest march toward Finals contention.
None of this is to say that the Warriors are guaranteed a championship, of course. There are plenty of viable contenders in the league this year, especially in a wide-open Eastern Conference. Toronto is led by a former Finals MVP in Kawhi Leonard, who is just the type of player to give Durant and the Warriors fits due to his defensive prowess. And the Milwaukee Bucks are high on the list of teams to give the Warriors trouble if they met in the Finals, due to a deep bench that has helped them immensely. But those teams lack one thing that the Warriors possess, which is a proven ability to win games in the late rounds of the playoffs.