Golden State is favored to win the NBA Finals against either Boston or Miami, while Steph Curry is the favorite to be named Finals MVP.
The Warriors' run of excellence resumed Thursday evening in San Francisco.
The same core of those historically good late 2010s teams—Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green—have brought the Warriors back to basketball’s biggest stage. No. 3 Golden State defeated the No. 4 Mavericks in five games in the Western Conference finals to advance to their sixth NBA Finals in eight seasons, a feat no team has accomplished since Michael Jordan’s Bulls.
Golden State is now favored to win its fourth ring in this span.
The Warriors have -160 odds to win the NBA Title, better odds than both of their potential opponents. Their Finals counterpart could be decided Friday night when the Heat and Celtics meet for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
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Top-seeded Miami is a long shot to get out of this round, much less win it all. The Heat have +3000 odds to win their first championship since 2013. Boston, which is favored to win Friday, is +140 to win it all. The franchise last won the title in 2008.
Curry is the prohibitive favorite at SI Sportsbook to be the Finals MVP with +110 odds. Next closest is Jayson Tatum at +210 odds, followed by Jaylen Brown (+900), Green (+1200), Thompson (+1200), Jordan Poole (+2000) and Jimmy Butler (+2000).
Curry, somewhat infamously, has never won Finals MVP, despite his three rings. Andre Iguodola won the award in the 2015 Finals and Kevin Durant won it in 2017 and 2018. Curry did just win the first-ever Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP.
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Curry and Golden State have that championship look and feel again, hence their status as heavy favorites to claim the hardware.
In case you forgot, Golden State made five straight Finals from 2015-19 and won three titles. Then, injuries kept the Dubs out of the playoffs two seasons in a row.
The dynasty was dormant, but now it’s back.
About a month ago, when the longtime favorite Suns first started to have trouble with the Pelicans in the first round, the Warriors passed them as the favorites to win the championship. They have since been ingrained as progressively heavier favorites.
They beat the Nuggets in five games in the first round, defeated the Grizzlies in six in the second round and then topped the Mavericks.
The Finals begin Thursday, June 2, so if the Celtics win Friday, there will be five days off before Game 1. If the Heat force a Game 7, it will be played Sunday night in Miami.
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