Betting Splits
The NBA Finals are set between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat where the Nuggets have opened the series as a massive -400 betting favorite. This comes as both teams went into the playoffs on opposite sides of the spectrum.
The Denver Nuggets went in as the number one overall seed in the league while the Miami Heat lost their first play-in game to the Atlanta Hawks which resulted them to being the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Just to give you an idea of how things are playing out thus far, ahead of Game 1, the public is taking a liking to the Nuggets with 86% of bets on their moneyline odds and 54% of bets on them to cover the spread.
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The Nuggets have been on a downhill journey since the early on in the preseason with their opening odds coming in at 1700 and have been falling ever since. They’ve been at under even odds to win the NBA Finals since mid-May.
They’ve manhandled every team in their path having defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round 4-1 with three of their wins coming by 10 . In the conference semi-final, they beat the Phoenix Suns 4-2 with all of their wins coming by 10 points. They then swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
DENVER NUGGETS STATS |
|
|---|---|
| SCORING | 116.4 |
| REBOUNDING | 44.2 |
| SHOOTING | 49.0 |
| ASSISTS | 25.9 |
| DEFENSE | 106 |
| DEFENSE | 59 |
| MISC | 21 |
| ADVANCED | 8.7 |
The Miami Heat’s journey wasn’t an easy one to overcome. They opened the year at 2400 and eventually saw their odds rise all the way to over 20000 at one point during the season.
Come playoff time they shot back down to the 2000 range and remained with the longest NBA Championship odds of the pool of teams through every round. They are also just the second eighth-seeded team in the history of the NBA to ever make it to the NBA Finals and can become the first ever to walk away as NBA Champions.
No. 8 Miami Heat vs. No. 1 Denver Nuggets
Game 1 (at Denver): Thursday, June 1 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 2 (at Denver): Sunday, June 4 | 8 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 3 (at Miami): Wednesday, June 7 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 4 (at Miami): Friday, June 9 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 5 (at Denver): Monday, June 12 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)*
Game 6 (at Miami): Thursday, June 15 | 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)*
Game 7 (at Denver): Sunday, June 18 | 8 p.m. ET (ABC)*
(*If necessary.)
Miami was an underdog in all three of their previous series. They had 750 odds in the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks before taking them down 4-1. In the second round against the New York Knicks, they defeated them 4-2 with 140 pre-series odds.
Finally, in the Eastern Conference Finals, they beat the Boston Celtics 4-3 after being given 400 odds.
Both teams can make history if they win. This will be the Nuggets first-ever NBA title while the Heat could be the biggest underdog to ever win an NBA title.
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THE NUGGETS ARE IN THE NBA FINALS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FRANCHISE HISTORY 🤩 pic.twitter.com/AjExOCObH8
— ESPN (@espn) May 23, 2023
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| Title: Nuggets Open As Heavy Favorite To Heat
| Author: Sam Profeta
| Date: May 30th 2023
