Vegas Play of the Day: Cleveland Cavaliers at Golden State Warriors

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, June 4, 2015 | 1:24 p.m.

There are hundreds of ways to bet game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight, with all the proposition wagers posted around town.

The Play of the Day, which uses odds from the South Point and $10,000 starting bankrolls, is sticking with the most basic one.

Golden State Warriors minus-6 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: $330 to win $300

As stated exhaustively in this space, I’ve spent the NBA Playoffs looking for spots to back the Warriors. They’re the top power-rated team in the NBA by a wide margin but still a tad undervalued by the betting market.

Undeterred by their mediocre 7-8 against the spread record in the playoffs, I’ll carry the strategy into the NBA Finals. And getting the best team in the world as the shortest home favorite they’ve been in six months off of a week of rest screams “bet-on.”

Many have suggested the Cavaliers are a bad matchup for the Warriors. I think the opposite is true.

Cleveland has run through the playoffs behind a constant dose of isolation plays for LeBron James. The best player in the world is always going to get his share, but Golden State is too sound defensively to let such a simple offense prove its undoing.

Cleveland’s defense is far worse and will be exacerbated by encountering the best offense it has seen in more than a month. Everyone’s hungry for a great game after a pair of uncompetitive conference finals, but they’ll have to wait a while longer.

Standings: Bern (81-71-1, $11,455), Keefer (81-81-2, $8,967), Brewer (70-85-3, $875)

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.