The team employing LeBron James has reached the NBA Finals in seven consecutive seasons and, prior to the 2017-2018 campaign, many predicted that streak to reach eight with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The path to making that a reality, however, hasn’t been easy. It’s been an up-and-down campaign for the defending Eastern Conference champions and, after significant struggles against the Indiana Pacers in the opening round of the playoffs, Cleveland entered round two as significant underdogs, at least according to betting markets, against the No. 1 seed Toronto Raptors.
Fast-forward to three consecutive victories, including two on the road, and things have changed in Las Vegas. In fact, the Cavaliers are now seen as prohibitive favorites to reach the NBA Finals.
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It has to be noted that both the Cavs and Celtics must win one additional game in order to actually make the Eastern Conference Finals but, with 3-0 leads in their respective series, Cleveland and Boston are on a collision course. At least one off-shore outlet installed the Celtics as early (if only slight) favorites over the Cavaliers but, as Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook Manager Jeff Sherman notes above, that sentiment has not made its way to Las Vegas.
The Cavs will enter a presumptive series against the Celtics without home-court advantage but, in the same breath, Cleveland has LeBron James and the Celtics, well, do not. Boston has been incredibly impressive behind the work of Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, Terry Rozier, Brad Stevens and others but it would be another thing entirely to dethrone James, even with the benefit of an extra game in front of a raucous crowd at TD Garden.
When the Celtics and Cavs are officially locked in to the ECF match-up, it will be interesting to see what the betting markets dictate from a pricing perspective. As of now, however, one of the most respected sports books in the world sees Cleveland as heavy favorites to represent the East in the NBA Finals and, given recent history, that doesn’t feel like the wrong idea.
