back in december we argued that golden state were a little short in the outright winner betting at just 8/13. they are still the favourites to lift yet another nba championship but they have drifted out to evens with william hill so we feel somewhat validated in our earlier assessment.
with the season now well and truly approaching the business end of proceedings it seems like a great time to take another look at the current campaign. we’ll be consider the current playoff series, as well as the outright winner market and help you pick out some profitable bets as the season reaches its conclusion.
between now and the nba finals (31st may-17th june 2018) there is a lot of basketball to be played. that means loads of great nba betting opportunities and whatever you want to bet on, our live odds comparison is a great way to get the biggest and best betting odds. we’ve got all the major markets covered, comparing odds for both the individual games and the outright betting.
conference semis
at the time of writing the conference semis are ongoing. washington, indiana, miami, milwaukee, portland, oklahoma city, minnesota and san antonio all saw their nba seasons end after defeat in the first round of the playoffs.
miami and portland had earlier won their divisions but both were easily beaten and now we’re down to the last eight. the cavs struck first against the raptors, winning in toronto and so we have to fancy them to progress. cleveland had a winning record against the canadians in the regular season and also boast a 2-0 record against them in past playoffs.
boston used home court advantage to beat the 76ers in game one of their semi and we think the bookies have got the odds wrong in making philly favourites to turn that round. boston did, after all, beat their rivals 3-1 during the four regular season games.
in the western conference it is houston 1-0 utah after the rockets won 110-96 at the toyota center. houston are strongly fancied to go all the way this year and after the season they’ve had we can understand why.
if they are to make the championship game they will most likely have to face golden state in the next round. steve kerr’s side are looking for their third championship in four years and lead the new orleans pelicans 2-0 after the opening two games at the oracle arena.
conference finals
we won’t make too many tips and predictions with regards the conference finals for the obvious reason that we don’t know who’ll make it through. we’re confident that the cavs, warriors and rockets will make it and we fancy there is value in backing the celtics but this is sport and anything could yet happen.
assuming we’re right in the west, it would certainly be an amazing series between houston and the current nba champions. many would see that as too close to call, although the bookies make golden state just 8/11 to make it through to the championship game.
in the east the odds show that whilst cleveland should make it through to the last four, it is a close three horse race in terms of who will win the conference. the cavs are a 2/1 shot, with the 76ers and raptors both available at best betting odds of 9/4. we have to say that the celtics are being overlooked. it is hard to see them winning the conference for sure but odds of 10/1 (ladbrokes) certainly seem too big to us.
who will be nba champions?
having said that we wouldn’t provide too much analysis for conference games that might never come to pass, we’re now somewhat hypocritically going to give our thoughts on the championship series itself. obviously we know even less about this, making predictions a risky business, but for those wanting to make a bet on the outright winner of this year’s greatest basketball competition, we’ll do our very best!
as discussed, golden state are the worthy favourites and tick all the right boxes you could want from a potential victor. they have star quality in players such as kevin durant, stephen curry and draymond green. they have plenty of experience, having gone all the way in 2017 and 2015 and lost (to cleveland) in 2016. on top of that, injuries earlier in the year may actually have helped as their best players may just have a little extra freshness come the biggest games.
in truth we can’t really advise against a bet on the dominant team of the last few years adding more gloss to their story. the cavs, with whom they have contested the last three finals, just aren’t quite the same team and there are various question marks over just about all the other key contenders.
that said, if you are looking for a bet at longer odds then we feel we have just the ticket. tipping the boston celtics, available at 40/1 on our odds comparison, may seem a little leftfield but we really do feel the market is underestimating them.
they last won the conference in 2010 and their last championship was two years before that. however, brad stevens is doing a great job and their odds are so long simply because of the injury to kyrie irving. irving is a great player but boston have already demonstrated they can win without him. they lead the 76ers right now and with terry rozier stepping up we think they can progress.
do that and their odds will tumble and their confidence will soar. at 40/1 it’s a long shot but we think it’s worth a small bet if golden state aren’t for you.