National Basketball Association

Vegas experiencing heavy betting on the underdog Cavs

Published Jun. 4, 2015 1:09 p.m. ET

foxsports

by Craig Lyndall

I’ve been pretty obsessed with the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers are underdogs. They don’t have home court advantage and their injuries are legitimate, and there’s a sense that they weren’t tested during their road through the East. Still, they’ve played excellent basketball and have the most experienced superstar left in the NBA playoffs, so it still feels strange to consider LeBron James an underdog. Apparently I wasn’t alone in those sentiments as early betting has been heavy on the Cavaliers according to an ESPN report.

Eighty percent of the action at the Westgate SuperBook was on Cleveland as of Wednesday. The story was the same at William Hill. At the Wynn, the bigger bets were on the Cavs. The MGM sportsbook was anticipating a six-figure wager to add to a growing number of five-figure bets already placed on Cleveland.

“It’s been a steady stream of Cleveland money,” Craig Barmazel of the MGM Mirage said

None of this means that the Cavaliers should be the favorite, mind you. It merely points out that the Cavaliers are thought to be a value from a betting perspective even if they might legitimately be underdogs in the series. The home court advantage alone influences that underdog status, let alone the Warriors’ obvious talent level.

Dare to dream Cavs fans and bettors in Vegas. The Cavaliers are underdogs, but before any of the games begin, it’s a worthy dream – if not a bet – that the Cavs might just be able to pay this one off.

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