Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors 2017 NBA Finals, Game 2 Preview — 6/4/2017
2017 NBA Finals Game 2 Preview by King Sports Picks
Playoff Records: Cleveland Cavaliers (12–2 SU, 8–5–1 ATS, 9–5 O/U) vs. Golden State Warriors (13–0 SU, 9–4 ATS, 9–4 O/U)
NBA: Sunday, June 4th, 8:00 pm EST
Line: Warriors -9, 220.5
Last Meeting: 6/01/17 Warriors 113 Cavaliers 91
Trends:
Cavaliers are 1–4 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up loss
Warriors are 11–5 ATS the last 16 meetings in Golden State
The Golden State Warriors proved how dangerous their offense is when their star-studded lineup is clicking. Led by Kevin Durant (38 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) and Steph Curry (28 points, 10 assists) the Warriors easily rolled the Cavaliers in Game 1, 113–91. As of the time of this writing, the Warriors are currently -9 point favorites in Game 2. They opened as -7 point home favorites but were quickly bet up to -9 within minutes after Game 1 concluded.
Oddsmakers feel more confident in the Cavaliers at home as they are currently listed as -2 point favorites in Games 3 and 4. However, expect these lines to shift if the Warriors are able to repeat their Game 1 performance in Game 2 and if that is the case the Warriors could easily be road favorites.
Areas of Concern for the Cavaliers…
Here is an alarming stat from Game 1: Outside of LeBron James, Kyrie Erving, and Kevin Love, the remaining Cavaliers players scored just 24 points on 7-of-31 shooting in 131 combined minutes.
The Warriors scored 56 points in the paint and there was little Cleveland resistance down low. The Warriors can shoot the lights out but if you give them space in the paint and allow them to shoot outside, there is no team in the NBA that can stop them from scoring at will.
Cleveland committed 20 turnovers to the Warriors 4.
Will Game 2 be different?
LeBron James (28 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists) almost dropped a triple-double and the Cavaliers still lost by 22 points. The best player in the world will need some help in Game 2 to make this a competitive game and avoid going down (0–2) before heading back to Cleveland.
Cleveland is 4–1 ATS in their last 5 NBA Championship games and 8–2–1 ATS in their last 11 games overall while the Warriors are 3–10 ATS in their last 13 Sunday games. These trends favor the Cavaliers but they will need to play a completely different game in Game 2 to get the win.
