Updated 2018 NBA Championship Odds – May 14 Edition

The NBA’s conference finals got underway on Sunday afternoon, as the Boston Celtics delivered a 108-83 thumping of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the series opener. The Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets start their series on Monday night, but as you can see below, the Warriors are heavily favored to roll to their third NBA title in four years. LeBron James is looking to extend his streak of appearing in the NBA Finals to eight in a row — but Marcus Morris and the rest of the Boston defenders are looking to stop that run. James Harden and Chris Paul are hungry for an NBA Finals appearance — but will they be able to get past Golden State to get there, especially now that Stephen Curry has returned? Check out our NBA Championship betting insights on the four remaining teams in the NBA playoffs.

Updated 2018 NBA Championship Odds – May 14 Edition

As the Conference Finals are underway… sign in to the #NBAPlayoffs Bracket Challenge presented by @budweiserusa to see how you’re doing! #NBABracketChallenge: https://t.co/T1WFrc5G0T pic.twitter.com/YKPypjo2G5

— NBA (@NBA) May 14, 2018

• Golden State Warriors                                 5-8
• Houston Rockets                                          9-4
• Cleveland Cavaliers                                      8-1
• Boston Celtics                                               14-1

 What’s Going on in the West?

In the Western Conference Final, we have a matchup between two marquee programs — a series that will likely be at least as entertaining, and will show at least as high a level of play and competition as the NBA Finals that will follow. The Houston Rockets have Chris Paul, James Harden and Clint Capela all healthy and on the floor — and the team is 50-5 when all three of them are playing. During the regular season, Houston won two of the three regular season meetings, and they needed just five games in each of their first two playoff series, wins over the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Utah Jazz. The Rockets will need several factors to fall in line if they want to emerge with a series win. Clint Capela will need to keep dominating the center position. During the regular season, he averaged 15 points, 6 boards and 1 block per game against the Warriors. His pick-and-roll game will keep him in the offense when Golden State goes small, but he will also need to work to get Warriors center/forward Draymond Green in foul trouble. In the backcourt, Harden and Paul need to keep up with Durant and Curry, and the perimeter defense will need to keep Klay Thompson from going off, and that’s part of the role that Luc Mbah a Moute will have to play. The Golden State Warriors are looking to Stephen Curry to continue his domination over Chris Paul in the postseason. Klay Thompson went into a bit of a slump against Utah, but the Warriors will need him to put up his 20 points per game in order to glide past the Rockets. Green will need to get back to his elite defensive performance, including harassing Capela into bad shots. Durant needs to get back to draining threes at a higher rate than what he made against Utah. David West, Kevon Looney, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston all need to contribute on both ends as well. I like the Warriors to win in six or seven, but the Rockets will push the Warriors harder than either the Cavaliers or the Celtics will.

What about the East?

Yes, the Boston Celtics ran out to a 36-18 lead after the first quarter, and then led 61-35 at the halftime, but don’t count out the Cleveland Cavaliers just yet. Remember, Indiana won Game One of their series in Cleveland against the Cavaliers and then routed them in Game Six, but the Cavaliers still won the series in seven games. LeBron James reminded reporters after the opener against Boston that he often uses the series opener to “feel things out,” and while that might sound like an unproductive way to start a series, it has obviously worked for him. Once it became clear that the Cavaliers weren’t going to win, James and the Cavaliers looked oddly passive — James posted a -32 for the game and only scored 15 points, as Marcus Morris did a good job shutting him down on the defensive side, helping limit him to 15 points and harassing him into coughing up the ball seven times. James went to the bench with 7:00 remaining in the fourth quarter, as Boston was still up by 28. . Al Horford finally had a breakout game against Cleveland’s Kevin Love. Cleveland is extremely unlikely to brick their first 14 three-point shots, as they did in Game One. The Celtics’  36-18 lead after the first period was their second biggest lead after one in the storied history of the team, though, and the Cavaliers’ halftime deficit was the largest that a LeBron James team has permitted in his career. Expect James and the rest of the Cavaliers to make the necessary adjustments to make Game Two much more competitive.