Cleveland at Golden State

The NBA Finals have a familiar theme and will match the Golden State Warriors with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the fourth straight season. Many will look at the line here and immediately hook onto LeBron James and the Cavaliers as a double-digit underdog. Cleveland has a very weak supporting cast around LeBron, and were fortunate to get to this point, as the Eastern Conference was very flawed. The path to the Finals for the Cavaliers was very doable, but those weaknesses will now be exposed. The Warriors have 30 players on the court capable of dropping 30+ points while the Cavs have one. While everyone thinks of Golden State to be all about offense, they have really turned up the defense, holding Houston to fewer than 100 points in five straight games. It was even better than that as in those five games the Rockets averaged a shocking 91.2 points per game. A perspective on that is the fact that Houston scored fewer than 100 ponts just eight times the entire regular season. They scored fewer than 92 points just four times, yet Golden State held them to an average of less than that five straight games. Cleveland has averaged just 101 ppg in the playoffs, but has allowed fewer than 100. Golden State is light years ahead of the flawed Eastern Conference teams the Cavaliers have faced. Cleveland has lost five games in the playoffs by 13 points or more, and I think the Warriors make it six and keep the Cavs' supporting cast limited. Lay the points on Golden State and also take the UNDER.