Just looked at the opening lines.
San Antonio is -8 in game #1 and series price is SA -440 Cleveland +390 at my main offshore book. Personally, I think Cleveland has some value at these huge lines. I know winning in SA will be very tough for the Cavs, but Cleveland has played excellent ball on the road during the playoffs going 7-1 ATS! Spurs will also be coming off a long layoff having gone over a week between games. Cleveland is a long shot to win, but covering:shrug:
Looking at the matchups and they don't look very good for Cleveland. James should do fine vs. Bowen, but it won't be easy. Duncan should dominate the paint as Zydrunas is way too slow to guard him, Gooden can't matchup either. Ginobilli is too quick for anyone Cleveland has at the 3 spot as well. Parker is way quicker than anyone Cleveland can matchup with him at the guard spot although I would like Gibson to guard him rather than Hughes.
Still, the last time a team was this huge a dog in the NBA Finals was the Pistons vs. the Lakers and they won that series 4-1. If you recall, the Pistons were getting approximately 8 to 8.5 points @ LA and were only favored in game #5 of that series. Of course the Lakers had won 3 of 4 titles going into that series and Phil Jackson was a perfect 9-0 in the NBA Finals. If King James can go off and Gibson can keep hitting 3's... who knows:shrug: James will have to take over offensively and Cleveland has to find a way to steal a game in SA to have a shot at winning this series. Spurs will take at least one game in Cleveland.
I would love to hear opinions from other handicappers. I see SA winning 4-2, but a couple breaks going the Cavs way and it's possible they can win this series IMO. I'm not ruling out the Cavs like most so-called experts. Keep in mind, the Pistons were something like +600 to win their series vs. the Lakers. I took Detroit to sweep the Lakers that year for $100 to win $9,500 and came within a Kobe 3 at the buzzard from winning. However, the Cavs aren't playing the Fakers who were feuding with each other.
San Antonio is -8 in game #1 and series price is SA -440 Cleveland +390 at my main offshore book. Personally, I think Cleveland has some value at these huge lines. I know winning in SA will be very tough for the Cavs, but Cleveland has played excellent ball on the road during the playoffs going 7-1 ATS! Spurs will also be coming off a long layoff having gone over a week between games. Cleveland is a long shot to win, but covering:shrug:
Looking at the matchups and they don't look very good for Cleveland. James should do fine vs. Bowen, but it won't be easy. Duncan should dominate the paint as Zydrunas is way too slow to guard him, Gooden can't matchup either. Ginobilli is too quick for anyone Cleveland has at the 3 spot as well. Parker is way quicker than anyone Cleveland can matchup with him at the guard spot although I would like Gibson to guard him rather than Hughes.
Still, the last time a team was this huge a dog in the NBA Finals was the Pistons vs. the Lakers and they won that series 4-1. If you recall, the Pistons were getting approximately 8 to 8.5 points @ LA and were only favored in game #5 of that series. Of course the Lakers had won 3 of 4 titles going into that series and Phil Jackson was a perfect 9-0 in the NBA Finals. If King James can go off and Gibson can keep hitting 3's... who knows:shrug: James will have to take over offensively and Cleveland has to find a way to steal a game in SA to have a shot at winning this series. Spurs will take at least one game in Cleveland.
I would love to hear opinions from other handicappers. I see SA winning 4-2, but a couple breaks going the Cavs way and it's possible they can win this series IMO. I'm not ruling out the Cavs like most so-called experts. Keep in mind, the Pistons were something like +600 to win their series vs. the Lakers. I took Detroit to sweep the Lakers that year for $100 to win $9,500 and came within a Kobe 3 at the buzzard from winning. However, the Cavs aren't playing the Fakers who were feuding with each other.
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