People who bet on basketball will be favoring the Golden State Warriors over the Cleveland Cavaliers to win game 1 of the NBA championship series – and the entire series as well. For instance, at SBG Global sportsbook, the lines run thus:
Cavaliers +5½ (-110) 210 (-110) +215
Warriors -5½ (-110) 210 (-110) -255
There are many reasons for this, and one of the main reasons is the work of Warriors coach Steve Kerr. Kerr laid the bases for the most successful season of any rookie coach in the history of the NBA in 2014-2015, leading up to Golden State winning its fourth NBA title and first in four decades. The Warriors set a team record with 67 wins, and Kerr had the highest winning percentage ever by a first-year coach. Anyone would think there would be no way but down from there, and it was a tough act to follow, but unlike most sequels, Kerr didn’t disappoint the second time out.
Even though he missed 40-something games in 2015-16, Kerr still managed to win coach of the year – and rightfully so. Golden State won 73 games, breaking the Chicago Bulls’ record for most regular season wins. Additionally, the Warriors established new league milestones for single-season road wins, consecutive wins to begin a season, and consecutive regular-season home wins. Kerr is one of the most decorated NBA personalities of recent times – as a player and as a coach – and has been involved in the game in some capacity or another for about 30 years. That’s pretty good foundation for betting on basketball.
The other major reason that Golden State is the odds-on favorite needs no introduction… it’s Stephen Curry. Though some people would like to add an asterisk to the achievement, Curry became the first player in the 60+ year history of the NBA MVP Award to be unanimously voted as the league’s most valuable player. Curry is only the 11th player to win the award in back-to-back seasons, and is in good company franchise-wise – Wilt Chamberlain is the only other Warrior to have been named MVP.
Obviously Kerr and Curry are not the entire team, and precisely the rest of the roster is the remaining reason that the Golden State is the favorite of people betting on basketball at SBG Global sportsbook. The Warriors set a new franchise record for combined regular season and playoffs wins, improving on last season’s 83 and becoming the third team in league history to win at least 84 combined games. And since all great things come in threes, Golden State set a new record for single season three-pointers made – the first NBA team to score 1,000 three-point shots in the course of a single season.