Books ready for NBA Finals
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com
The sports books got the best possible matchup in the NBA Finals from a public appeal stand point which translates into the best possible revenue generator. The public is in the corners of both the Heat and Thunder for different reasons.
The bulk of America got to meet Oklahoma City during the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder impressed with their firepower and explosiveness as they took down San Antonio in six games, including the final four of the series in every imaginable way. The Spurs had won 20 straight before closing the year with four consecutive setbacks to OKC.
Regular bettors and casual fans all know who Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden are, but everyone else across the land got their first chance to really watch all three clicking at the same time erasing insurmountable leads against San Antonio.
The Heat has a very captive audience and most viewers just want to see what they’ll do next. The three highest cable ratings in NBA history came during the recent Eastern Conference Finals that just concluded with the Celtics.
Sure, Boston has its large supporting audience to help spur the ratings, but let’s be real, Kevin Garnett doesn’t generate that type of national audience. This is all about LeBron James and America wants to see if he can finally get over the hump and get a title or watch the train wreck ensue if he fails.
You can say whatever you want about some of the bad decisions LeBron made in his transition from Cleveland to Miami, but there aren’t many sports fans that didn’t admire how he stepped up to the plate with his legacy on the line.
Secretly, I think even the fans of Cleveland have gotten over the entire ordeal and have found a way to respect and admire the play of one the best basketball players ever who hails from their state.
Many of us feel the same way, including my mother-in-law who hasn’t watched basketball since the Suns’ Alvan Adams days in the seventies. All of a sudden, she’s got basketball fever and it’s been because of LeBron James taking his game to new heights and dominating games with a total package in a way we have rarely seen on the court.
Sure, he came off as arrogant when he suggested several championships were in store for Miami and many of us cheered for Dirk Nowitzki when the Mavericks beat Miami last year, but we’re Americans and we forgive easily. It’s almost like he paid his dues with heartache and now we’re ready to cheer him again.
The first two Game 1 spreads in Las Vegas came up simultaneously Saturday night following the Heat win with vastly different numbers. Wynn Resort opened the Thunder as 3 ½-point home favorites while MGM Resorts opened the game minus-4 ½. Those numbers quickly evaporated with both books -- and most everyone else -- settling on the Thunder at a market price of -5 by Sunday.
Coast Resorts opened the series price early Sunday morning with the Thunder being minus-150 to win the Championship and it quickly rose to -165 by the time the book closed.
We’ve seen a Jekyll and Hyde performance out of the Heat during the entire playoffs, but I think they found themselves in the final two games against Boston. It was the first playoff games with Miami where LeBron James was assertive and took control of the team without deferring to Dywane Wade. This is LeBron’s team finally, with Wade now gladly deferring to LeBron. Now that the little back story of who’s running the team has been settled, it’s time to finish it off.
My first instinct says this series should go at least six games, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it end in five with the Heat winning the championship at home. The Heat winning would be good news for the sports books because most of the shops win the most in future wagers with Miami. However, the books would prefer to have a seven-game series to get maximum action that a series of this magnitude will create.