San Antonio’s early departure from the NBA playoffs has made for better odds for the remaining Western Conference teams, especially the Golden State Warriors. In the East, it’s Cleveland or a long shot.
The Spurs entered the playoffs at 3/1 odds to win the title. With Saturday’s loss in game seven against the LA Clippers, that leaves the Clippers, Warriors, Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies. Against the Chalk predicted before the playoffs that the Grizzlies and Rockets provided good value at 35/1 and 30/1 respectively to win the NBA title.
Now, according to Oddsshark.com, the Rockets are going off at 12/1 and the Grizzlies are at 18/1. The Clippers, fresh off their seven game series defeating the defending champions, are 12/1 to win the NBA title.
However, oddsmakers are still looking at Golden State as the favorite. To begin the playoffs, Golden State were 2/1. Now, the Warriors are 6/5 to win the title, and 5/8 to win the Western Conference title. The Clippers are the next favorite at 6/1, while the Rockets are 7/1 and Grizzlies are 10/1 to win the West.
In the Eastern Conference, it’s even more of a disparity from top to bottom. The Cavs began the playoffs 2/1 to win the title, and are now 7/2 to win the title. Oddsmakers are likely devaluing the Cavs because of the Kevin Love injury.
The Cavs are not experiencing decreased odds to win the East, though. Cleveland is 20/29 to win the East, while the Chicago Bulls went from 8/1 to win the East before the playoffs to 4/1 now. The Bulls also are 7/1 to win the NBA title, down from 20/1 before the playoffs began.
The Hawks have gone from 18/1 to win the title before the playoffs to 12/1 today. The Wizards are still a long shot at 28/1.
