The Golden State Warriors flexed their championship-caliber muscle last time out, throttling the Houston Rockets to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors can really take control with another win next time out.
Golden State will have the home court advantage once again in Game 4 and it will be a solid favorite to come away with the win. The Rockets have look outclassed in two of the three games but did dominate Game 2, so they could still have a chance.
The Warriors seem likely to cruise into the NBA Finals if they can capture this contest, and the Rockets are going to play with a high level of urgency because they would much rather be even at two games apiece heading back home. This is a huge game for each side and will be an intriguing one to watch in NBA basketball odds.
Game 4 of this NBA Playoff Series is on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at 9 p.m. ET at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. The contest will be nationally televised on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for every game of the 2018 NBA Playoffs.
Odds Analysis
The Warriors have opened up as nine-point favorites, which is a higher spread than the Game 3 margin that they covered easily. It’s not often a team with the best record in the NBA is this big of an underdog, even on the road, but the Rockets are expected to lose because Golden State is a special team.
The scoring total is listed at 224 points, three points fewer than Game 3, which went “under.” The “under” is getting the majority of the action early on in this one. Both teams are capable of scoring a bunch of points, but a lot of times in this series one of the teams has struggled on offense.
The Warriors are listed as heavy -462 favorites on the moneyline, while the Rockets come in as the +359 favorites. At those odds, it’s not a surprise to see the Rockets getting the majority of the action.
Last Time Out
Steph Curry had his best game this postseason since returning from injury, overcoming a mediocre first half to wind up as the team’s leading scorer as the Warriors powered through the Rockets in Game 3. Curry finished with 35 points, including five three-pointers, in Golden State’s 126-85 victory.
The Warriors shot 52.2 percent from the field in the win with Kevin Durant adding 25 points. Houston, on the other hand, shot 39.5 percent and committed 20 turnovers.
James Harden finished with a team-high 20 points and nine rebounds.
Player To Watch
Harden is likely going to win the regular season MVP but he hasn’t been great in this series. He poured in 41 points in the opener but has averaged only 23.5 points over the past two, shooting only 40 percent from the field and under 25 percent from three-point range.
The Rockets don’t have as much firepower as the Warriors, so they need Harden to dominate on the offensive end of the court in order to stick close to Golden State. Harden needs to both shoot the ball well and distribute in Game 4.
Free NBA ATS Picks
The Warriors are the better team, but the sense of urgency is going to be with Houston. The Rockets need all of their role players to step up, but the feeling here is that they will. Houston is a good bet on the spread and should even be a consideration to pull the upset at those moneyline prices.
It’s a gamble, but look for the Rockets to take this one down to the wire after three blowouts in the first three games of this series.
NBA ATS Pick: Warriors 114, Rockets 112
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