NBA Perfect Ten: Finals Edition
We are officially nearing the close of another NBA season. The Denver Nuggets are now one game away from an NBA title and, if you’d bet them at the start of the playoffs, you are waiting patiently to cash out on their original +950 betting odds. If you waited til now, however, those odds are not nearly as sweet.
NBAFinals
#8 Miami vs. #1 Denver: The Denver Nuggets proved a couple of key things in this NBA Finals; they have a superior roster to that of the Heat and, perhaps more importantly, they can match coaching staffs with Miami to take away what has been a decided advantage for the Heat throughout the playoffs.
Look no further than the sudden and dramatic fall of the Heat’s much talked about ‘Undrafted Four’ of Max Strus, Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent, and Duncan Robinson. After hitting critical open jumpers throughout the playoffs, the foursome has failed to score more than 30 points in three of this series's first four games. Denver has done what the Bucks, Knicks, and Celtics were unable to do before them, forcing each of them to beat them off the dribble. As a result, the heavy scoring burden has fallen to Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler almost exclusively, and, particularly in Butler’s case, the wear, and tear is showing. Meanwhile, Denver’s dynamic duo of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray looks like a pair that could win multiple championships together.
My only regret as we head into game five is that I foolishly amended my original pick of Denver in five games and changed it to Denver in six games last week. I was wrong. This series is over and the only question left is the margin of victory tonight. Denver is now -5000 to win the series after opening the playoffs at +950. Let’s hope you took your shot early with the Nuggets.
Stay tuned next week when we break down my preseason picks for this year’s season, how they look now, and the future odds for next season.
Prediction: Denver in Five games. Amended Prediction: Denver in Six games.
Conference/NBA Title Odds: Denver (-5000)
In parenthesis, conference odds and finals odds. All odds Courtesy of Draftkings.com.
By Mark Ruelle