2024 NBA Western Conference Odds - NBA Betting Lines

NBA Western Conference Betting Online

The Western Conference in 2023-2024 was extremely competitive and it was the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets finishing one game ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Thunder won the tiebreaker against the Nuggets and Oklahoma City is the No. 1 seed in the West, but they are not favored to win the Western Conference. The Nuggets are the defending NBA champs and they are the No. 2 seed. The Timberwolves were a nice surprise this season and they are the No. 3 seed. Denver is a slight overall favorite to win the West, with Minnesota a close second. Oklahoma City and Dallas are the two darkhorses. The Nuggets and Timberwolves will meet in one Western Conference Semifinal, while the Thunder and Mavericks meet in the other.

NBA Betting Lines

NBA Western Conference Semifinals

1. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. 5. Dallas Mavericks

2. Denver Nuggets vs. 3. Minnesota Timberwolves

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Dallas Mavericks

The Thunder took three of four from the Mavericks in the regular season. The Thunder led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and the rest of their youthful core had an outstanding first playoff series that concluded with a sweep of New Orleans. After winning 16 of its final 20 regular-season games, Dallas eliminated the Los Angeles Clippers in six games.

The main battle in this one is Luka Doncic versus Gilgeous-Alexander. During the regular season, the top two guards in the NBA were among the league’s best scorers. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.1 points, while Doncic averaged 33.9. More than merely scoring is done by both. Doncic led the league in assists with 9.8 and rebounds with 9.2 per game, while Alexander led the league in steals per game with 2.0.

In the opening round, Oklahoma City gave up a league-low 89.5 points per game. Kyrie Irving faced Oklahoma City and went 23 for 37 (62.2%), scoring 30.5 points on average while Doncic scored 34 points per game. Gilgeous-Alexander was held to 22 points per game against the Mavericks in the regular season.

Denver Nuggets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota and Denver split their regular-season series with each team winning twice. Drawing any significant inferences from the regular season is a foolish endeavor, given Karl-Anthony Towns missed the final three matches due to a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee, Rudy Gobert missed one of Minnesota's two losses, and Jamal Murray missed one of Denver's two losses.

This season, Denver scored fewer than 100 points in just eight games. Two of those games saw strong defensive efforts from the Timberwolves, including the Nuggets' third-lowest scoring total of the campaign (89). Denver finished with a record of 0-8 when it failed to score 100 points and 7-17 when it failed to score 110.

Nikola Jokic had a tremendous season versus Minnesota, posting 33-12-4 on 58/40/70 shooting splits. Gobert—the most renowned defensive player in the game—matched up against Jokic—the most dominant offensive player in the league. Presumably, Jokic performed just as well against Gobert (31 points on 13 of 21 shooting in 11 minutes, per NBA tracking data) as he does against everyone else.

Conference Winners (2000)

Since Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls for a second time, the Western Conference has been the dominant conference. Teams from the West are 17-8 in the last 25 NBA Finals, and that should speak to overall dominance in the conference. However, three teams have been responsible for nearly all of that success (Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Golden State).

Conference Finals Results By Team

It’s incredible to see the difference in the success that the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers have had in comparison to every other team in the Western Conference. The Lakers have won the Western Conference a whopping 32 times, and they have made numerous runs thanks to some of the biggest starts in the game. George Mikan, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant all had a ton of success with this franchise.

The Golden State Warriors are a distant second in terms of most successful teams in Western Conference history. This is one of the oldest franchises in the NBA as they were part of the BAA as the Philadelphia Warriors, and they made it to the NBA Finals three times before heading to the West Coast. Golden State has now won the Western Conference six times in the last nine years, and the Warriors have claimed four NBA titles in that stretch. That has made them an undisputed dynasty under Steph Curry.

Obviously, there's some strange teams to see on this list as "Western Conference champions." The Atlanta Hawks have always played in the Eastern Conference, but the team that preceded them, the St. Louis Hawks, won four Western Conference titles. The Milwaukee Bucks used to be in the West, while the Detroit Pistons were in the West when they were known as the Fort Wayne Pistons.

Four of the five franchises that have never taken part in an NBA Finals are in the Western Conference. Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans, and the Los Angeles Clippers have never won the West, and Sacramento’s only conference title came back in 1951 when the Kings were known as the Rochester Royals.

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