Warriors heavy favorite for 2nd title in 3 years

For the third straight year, the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will meet in the NBA Finals, with the Warriors a strong favorite to reclaim the championship.

At the Westgate Las Vegas sports book, the Warriors are -255, meaning a bettor would need to wager $255 to win $100. The Cavs are +215, said Jay Kornegay, the Westgate VP who directs the sports book and sets the odds.

The Warriors are sevenpoint favorites to win Game 1, which tips off Thursday, June 1, in Oakland. Bookmakers expected the Warriors’ return to the Finals, especially after acquiring free agent Kevin Durant last summer. The Warriors opened the season at -150.

“The Warriors have been what we expected. We thought Durant would fit in nicely, and he has,” Kornegay said. “The only question was the (loss of ) role players and starting center Andrew Bogut,” as supersubs such as Marreese Speights and Leandro Barbosa left the team.

But the Warriors “haven’t missed a beat,” Kornegay added, particularly noting that first-year Warriors “David West, Zaza Pachulia and Patrick McCaw have fit in without any hiccups.”

The team has peaked at the right time, winning 27 of its past 28 games, including a 12-0 march through the playoffs.

The Cavs had an uneven end to their regular season but righted the ship during the playoffs, beefing up their defense and putting on several spectacular offensive displays.

“Cleveland was criticized for not pushing for the No. 1 seed,” Kornegay said about how the Cavs finished second in the East, just one game behind the Boston Celtics, but “it feels like they had a strategy to save as much energy as they could for the Finals.”

Because the Cavaliers seem to raise their game at will during the playoffs, “homecourt advantage in the early rounds didn’t mean much.” For the Finals, home court is more relevant: There would be “an adjustment” in the odds, he said, if the Warriors didn’t have home court (which they earned by posting the NBA’s best regular-season record).

“If the Cavs had home court for the Finals, the line would be approximately -180,” rather than -255, Kornegay said.

At press time, it was uncertain whether Warriors head coach Steve Kerr would be back on the bench for Golden State. Kerr is dealing with unresolved complications from back surgeries, but his understudy, top assistant Mike Brown, hasn’t lost a game.

Kornegay said he has long admired Kerr “as a player and a coach,” but his absence has not affected Westgate’s betting line.