How to Bet On Sports
NBA Championship - 2019 NBA Finals MVP
Now that we know that the Eastern Conference Champion Toronto Raptors will face the Western Conference Champion Golden State Warriors in this season’s NBA Finals, it is time to start looking for profitable ways to bet on this best-of-seven matchup.
The Warriors are heavy -290 favorites on the series price odds to win their third-straight NBA title and their fourth over the past five years. The odds that Toronto pulls off the upset are set at +245 ahead of Thursday’s series opener on its home court. Most online bookies have the Raptors listed as slight one-point favorites for Game 1. The total line is set at 215 points.
Golden State Warriors vs. Toronto Raptors Preview and Predictions
When it comes to the betting odds for the exact result of this year’s NBA Finals, Golden State winning the championship in six games at +250 has the lowest odds. The best odds on the board for Toronto winning this series are +450 for seven games.
With the heavy lean towards Golden State as the clear favorite in this series, it has had a heavy influence on the betting odds to win the 2019 NBA Finals MVP. With Kevin Durant still on the mend for the Warriors, Stephen Curry is the clear -140 favorite to win this award. He scored 33 points in the deciding Game 6 of the conference semifinals against Houston with Durant out of the lineup and he went on to average 36.5 points in Golden State’s four-game sweep over Portland in the conference finals.
Durant is out for Game 1 of this series, but he is still on the MVP futures board at +2000 odds. Rounding out the top players for Golden State are Draymond Green at +1000 and Klay Thompson at +1500. Things could change if Durant can get back on the court for Saturday’s Game 2 in Toronto, but right now the value in his longer odds is rather low.
America’s Bookie’s Basketball Betting section covers all your basketball betting answers
If you believe that Toronto has what it takes to pull off an even bigger upset against the Warriors, all the value on the board would be in Kawhi Leonard’s +275 odds to win MVP honors. He is the main reason why the Raptors are in the NBA Finals this season after a number of disappointing early exits in the playoffs. He has averaged 31.2 points through 18 previous postseason contests along with 8.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists a game.
His incredible game-winning shot against Philadelphia alone to win Game 7 of the conference semifinals has made Leonard a living legend north of the border. If he can carry Toronto to a league title against the Warriors, he would be the toast of Toronto for the next several decades.
It would be hard to see any other Toronto player step up their game high enough to factor into this discussion. Kyle Lowry is the next player on the list for the Raptors at +2500. Also on the futures list for MVP is Pascal Siakam at +2500 followed by Fred VanFleet at +3300 odds.
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All-in-all, I would have to go with Curry as the top-valued pick given the odds posted ahead of the start of this series. Things could change quite a bit depending on the outcome of Game 1. If Curry has a big night to lead Golden State to a victory, any remaining value would most likely be squeezed out of any updated MVP boards. If Leonard has a big night to help Toronto take the early 1-0 series lead, betting Curry at his new number would be value pick.
You have to figure out how you see this series playing out and then bet accordingly from there based on the posted numbers.