NBA Finals Who’s Hot and Who’s Not – June 12

NBA Finals Who’s Hot and Who’s Not – June 12

I would have bet that last week would have been the final NBA hot and not for the season, but Cleveland’s convincing 137-116 victory in last Friday night’s Game 4 as a five-point home underdog has extended this series at least one more game. Game 5 is set for Monday night back in Oakland at the Oracle Arena with Golden State listed as an 8.5-point home favorite to end this series once and for all.

The Warriors had the same 3-1 edge last season before losing three straight games to Cleveland, but you get the feeling that is not going to happen this time around. Golden State brought a straight-up 15-0 postseason record into Game 4 and it had been able to cover against the spread in its last six games in this year’s playoffs before Friday’s loss. It returns home with an even 4-4 record ATS in the eight previous playoffs games at Oracle Arena and the total went OVER BetAnySports’ closing line in five of those contests.

The current spread for Monday night’s Game 5 as held steady at 8.5 points favoring the Warriors at home and the total line has settled in at 230.5 points after going OVER 227 points in each of the last two games in this series. The total has gone OVER in seven of Cleveland’s last 10 playoff games and it has also gone OVER in 11 of the Warriors’ last 14 postseason games. The Cavaliers have averaged 113.5 points per game in the NBA Finals and Golden State’s scoring average through the first four games stands at 119.8 PPG.

LeBron James has led Cleveland in scoring this postseason with 32.4 points over his team’s last 17 games and he is also at the top of the list in assists with 7.8. Kyrie Irving’s scoring average in the playoffs stands at 25.9 PPG after posting a game-high 40 points in Friday’s win. Golden State’s Kevin Durant has established himself as the clear favorite to win this series’ MVP award with 30 + points in each of the first four games. Stephen Curry had an off night in Game 4 with just 14 points in the losing cause, but his scoring average in the postseason stands at 27.7 PPG to basically match Durant in that department.

The updated series price at BetAnySports still has Golden State listed as a prohibitive -2200 favorite with the moneyline on Cleveland set at +1375.