NBA Finals Preview & Free Pick- Cleveland at Golden State Game 1 - Handicappers Hideaway

The 2016 NBA Finals
get underway this Thursday night in a 9 p.m. (ET) tip at Oracle Arena
with Game 1 of a best-of-seven clash between the Cleveland Cavaliers and
the Golden State Warriors. For the second-straight season these two
will meet in the championship round as the top seed in their respective
conference. BetAnySports
has opened the Warriors as 5.5-point home favorites for Game 1 and the
total has been set at 210. The line has inched up to Golden State as a
6-point favorite and the total is now at 210.5.



Cleveland’s route to the NBA Finals was pretty direct with a straight-up
12-2 run while going 9-5 against the spread. Following routine sweeps
of Detroit and Atlanta, it got past No. 2 Toronto in the Eastern
Conference Finals with four wins in six games. The total stayed UNDER or
ended as a PUSH in nine of the Cavaliers’ first 14 postseason games.



You would expect LeBron James to be at the top of the list in points
scored (24.6), but Cleveland has also gotten a strong effort from Kyrie
Irving and Kevin Love during this impressive run. Irving has basically
matched James with 24.3 points per game and Love leads the team in
rebounds (9.6) and he is averaging 17.3 PPG. The Cavaliers averaged
104.3 points in the regular season and that number has climbed to 106.9
points in the playoffs.



Golden State rolled through its first two playoff series against Houston
and Portland in 10 games while going 7-3 ATS on BetAnySports’ closing
line. Following a rare loss at home in Game 1 of the Western Conference
Finals against Oklahoma City, the defending champs dug themselves into a
3-1 hole before responding with a 3-0 run both SU and ATS. The Warriors
are 9-1 SU at home in the postseason with an 8-2 record ATS. The total
has stayed UNDER in six of those 10 home games.



The backcourt duo of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson deserve a great
deal of the credit for Golden State’s amazing comeback against the
Thunder that clinched return trip to the NBA Finals. These two combined
for 72 points in a 108-101 victory in Game 6 as a three-point road
underdog and in Monday’s 96-88 grinder as a seven-point home favorite
Curry ended the night with a game-high 36 points with Thompson chipping
in another 21 points to the winning cause.



The Cavaliers come into Game 1 well-rested, while Golden State will have
to deal with the physical and mental fatigue of that stunning comeback.
Even with that edge Cleveland may still lose this game SU, I like its
chances to cover with BetAnySports’ 6-point spread.

NBA Finals Preview & Free Pick- Cleveland at Golden State Game 1 - Handicappers Hideaway