With the NBA Finals tied at 1-1, the Golden State Warriors (13-4 SU, 8-9 ATS) travel to the Cleveland Cavaliers (13-3 SU, 9-7 ATS) Tuesday for Game 3. You can watch the game live on ABC.
For the first time ever the first two games of the NBA Finals went into overtime and the Cavaliers used a gutsy performance without Kyrie Irving to knot the series at 1-1 with a 95-93 win on Sunday. The Warriors couldn’t overcome a horrific shooting performance from MVP Stephen Curry and lost for just the fourth time at home all season.
The Cavaliers captured their first ever win in the NBA Finals on Sunday with a gritty effort from their King and return to Ohio having wrested homecourt advantage from the Warriors. Even with their Game 2 win oddsmakers are leaning toward Golden State for Tuesday’s game, pegging them as 1-point chalk. Missing two All-Stars from your lineup will do that.
KEY INJURY
As we all know Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving is out after fracturing his kneecap in Game 1 of the series. The team announced he underwent successful surgery to repair the damage with a recovery time of 3-4 months. Irving had been dealing with tendinitis in his left knee throughout the playoffs and sustained the latest injury in the overtime period Thursday.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“If you’re looking for us to play sexy, cute basketball, then that’s not us. That’s not us right now. Everything is tough. You know, we’re going to come in with an aggressive mindset defensively and offensively. And for us to win a Finals game shooting 32 percent from the field, it’s just a testament of how gritty we can be. It has to be that for the rest of the series, no matter how many games it takes.” – Cavaliers forward LeBron James
BETTING TRENDS
- Golden State is 10-4 ATS in the last 14 head-to-head meetings.
- Cleveland is 5-2 ATS in its last seven games overall.
- The UNDER is 4-1 in the last five head-to-head meetings in Cleveland.
KEY STATS
83: Cavaliers forward LeBron James’ 83 points in the first two games of the Finals is the second highest total in NBA Finals history.
4: MVP Stephen Curry made just four of 21 three-point attempts in the first two games of the series and has looked nothing like the player that tormented Houston in the West finals.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
It happens even to the best. And NBA MVP Stephen Curry isn’t immune from an off-night shooting as he proved on Sunday. Curry made just five of 23 shots, including 2 of 15 from three-point range and had six turnovers in the overtime loss. “Shots I normally make I knew as soon as they left my hand that they were off. That doesn’t usually happen,” Curry said. Klay Thompson tried to pick up the backcourt slack, scoring 34 points. But the usually sharp-shooting Warriors went 8 for 35 from long range and shot 39.8 percent overall. “Their defense was great. They took our rhythm away,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
Unlike in Game 1, the Cavaliers got some breaks on Sunday and converted in the overtime after having the last shot in regulation again. The Cavs built an 11-point lead with just over three minutes left in the fourth and the advantage evaporated. It would have been easy for the Cavs to hang it up in the extra session and head home down 2-0 knowing they took the best team in the NBA to overtime twice on their own floor. But LeBron James wasn’t going to let that happen. Playing over 50 minutes James scored 39 points with 16 rebunds and 11 assists.
Even without All-Stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, the Cavaliers aren’t backing down. They’ve used their advantage down low to get easy buckets from LeBron and Timofey Mozgov and have the players to match up with the Warriors when they go small. They’ve morphed into a defense-first unit that contests every shot and have made it difficult for the Warriors. Matthew Dellavedova hounded Curry all night Sunday, allowing him little room to create, and got help when needed. The scheme was evident: don’t let Curry beat you with the three. Curry said his shot was off, James said it was because of Dellavedova. Curry is too good a shooter to go through another night like he did Sunday, but James is playing like the all-world star he is. It’s a sprint not a marathon now and James knows there’s a maximum of five games left in the season.
Cleveland 97, Golden State 92
The NBA odds for this game will first open at BookMaker sportsbook. Gamble on the game between every commercial break with BookMaker’s live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen on the next play or how many points will be scored in the next half. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
Access live betting lines from your mobile device at BookMaker sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform. Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here so start betting with BookMaker today! The matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will start at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, at Quicken Loans Arena. The contest will be broadcast nationally on ABC.
