James, Cavs enjoy easier road to Finals
Waiting patiently, and watching wild times unfold in the West, LeBron James must like what he’s seeing. This is almost exactly how the Cleveland Cavaliers would have scripted the postseason scenario.
In what amounted to a leisurely walk in the park, the Cavaliers coasted through the Eastern Conference with a 12-2 record. Unlike a year ago, James’ two sidekicks, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, are healthy and ready to fire in the NBA Finals.
Which card will the Cavaliers draw, a rematch with Golden State or a date with Oklahoma City? An exhausting series between the Warriors and Thunder is set to be decided Monday, when Game 7 of the West finals will produce a tired title contender.
“The Cavs have to be playing with the utmost confidence at this point,” Westgate sports book manager Jeff Sherman said. “Golden State has had a much tougher path. It’s a lot of energy the Warriors have had to expend.”
Aside from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Golden State has history on its side. There have been 124 Game 7s in the NBA playoffs, and the home team is 100-24 (80.6 percent), including 3-0 in this postseason. The Warriors are 7-point favorites and minus-330 on the money line.
“I think Golden State is going to win,” Sherman said. “But as far as covering the number, the only way I would play it is by taking the points.”
The Thunder seemed to be closing in on a clinching Game 6 victory on Saturday before flawed stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook reverted to their Choke-lahoma City form. The team that lost a league-high 14 regular-season games when leading going into the fourth quarter resurfaced at the most inopportune time.
Durant was a disaster in the fourth quarter, shooting 1-for-7, and Westbrook was even worse down the stretch, committing three turnovers in the final minute. Leading 96-89 with five minutes remaining, the Thunder rolled over in a 108-101 loss.
Oklahoma City closed as a 3-point favorite, and Sherman said betting action was “extremely lopsided” with around 70 percent of the money — including some of my money — on the Thunder.
“It was one of our better games of the playoffs,” Sherman said. “The Warriors don’t win if Thompson is not in a zone like that.”
While the Thunder’s stars were choking, Thompson turned clutch. Thompson sank 11 3-pointers on the way to 41 points. Curry, dispelling the theory that he was tiring, just missed a triple-double by recording 31 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Curry and Thompson proved why writing off the Warriors was a foolish thought.
Durant and Westbrook showed why they need to split up and go separate ways, if the Thunder fail in a defining Game 7. What happened Saturday could haunt Durant and Westbrook as long as they remain in Oklahoma City.
How unlikely is this comeback? NBA teams trailing 3-1 have a 9-223 series record, and Golden State is now a favorite to make it 10-223. But if any team can pull off that type of turnaround, it’s a team that won a record 73 regular-season games and is led by two of the hottest shooters on the planet.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers are benefitting from the brutal battles in the West. James has the Warriors or Thunder right where he wants them. Golden State took the NBA Finals in six games last year, when Irving and Love were out with injuries and James had to be a one-man gang. Cleveland matches up much better this time around.
Sherman said the Warriors would open as a minus-175 series favorite over the Cavaliers, and Cleveland would be a minus-130 favorite over the Thunder.
“The Cavs won two games last year with LeBron and a D-League team,” said Ron Boyles, a longtime professional sports bettor in Las Vegas. “LeBron is on a mission, and I think he’s going to win it for Cleveland.”
■ SILVER LINING — NBA commissioner Adam Silver is a progressive thinker on the topic of sports betting. He has talked about his pro-gambling stance before, and he said it again last week in an interview with ESPN.
Silver said because hundreds of billions of dollars are wagered with underground bookmakers, he prefers sports betting to be legalized on a national level so the action can be monitored as it is in Nevada.
“I think it should be legal, it should be regulated, it should be transparent,” Silver said. “I think it’s good for the integrity of the game, and I think it’s good for business.”
He added, “I can’t speak for the other leagues.” In other words, he’s not speaking for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who remains in the dark on the issue.
Silver called regulated betting an “appropriate form of entertainment” for fans. His opinions are shared by some powerful NFL owners who support the Oakland Raiders’ plan to relocate to Las Vegas.
So when Silver talks, hopefully Goodell listens.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports betting columnist Matt Youmans can be reached at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts “The Las Vegas Sportsline” weekdays at 2 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM). Follow on Twitter: @mattyoumans247