BY JACK RANDALL – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
The Miami Heat are set at an underdog price on the NBA Finals odds menu at most sportsbooks as they get ready to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder for the title starting on Tuesday.
The Heat barely made it to the NBA Finals, needing the full seven games to dispatch the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals over the weekend and rid themselves of the choker label – for now.
Miami got a combined 76 points from LeBron James over the final two games of its series against the Celtics to avoid elimination.
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And James will likely need to be at his best again this week as the Heat embark on their series against the Thunder, who enter the best-of-seven NBA Finals as the -170 favorites to win the title at the sportsbooks.
The Heat, who finished with just one fewer win than the Thunder during the regular season, are the +150 underdogs on the series lines heading into Game 1 of the series on Tuesday night.
For the opener, it’s Oklahoma City favored by fvie points at home, with an OVER/UNDER of 194 points. Bettors looking at Heat/Thunder trends will notice that the home team went 2-0 both straight up and against the spread in their two meetings during the regular season;
Oklahoma City has home-court advantage in the NBA Finals. As well, both Heat/Thunder matchups during the regular season paid out for UNDER bettors.
In the past nine meetings at Oklahoma City (including their time in Seattle), the OVER has prevailed seven times.
The Thunder is 7-1 ATS in its last 8 games as a favourite and the OVER is 10-2 the past 12 times they were chalk. Miami, meanwhile, is 0-5 SU & ATS in their past five games as an underdog and the UNDER is 8-3 in their past 11 games in that role.
If the Thunder do manage to win the NBA Finals as the betting favorites, then Durant would be the leading candidate to win the series’ MVP Award – and that’s why he’s the 3/2 favorite on that Finals MVP prop bet at Bodog. Teammate Russell Westbrook is at 5/1 on those odds, with James Harden at 10/1, and Serge Ibaka at 20/1.
Think the Heat will come through and win the NBA Finals? James is at 2/1 to claim the series’ MVP Award – and become even more despised in the state of Ohio. James is followed by Dwyane Wade at 7/1, Chris Bosh at 15/1, and Mario Chalmers at 20/1.
Blog post provided by OddsShark.com
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