Updated NBA Odds To Win 2016 Finals

If you’re excited about the pending start of the season half of the NBA regular season and you want to know which teams have improved their odds of winning this year’s league title and which ones are now offering lesser value against the NBA Championship futures odds, then you’re in luck!Thanks to this expert look at the most recent NBA odds to hoist this season’s Larry O’Brien trophy, you’re going to find out just which teams are offering the best value and which ones to avoid like the Bubonic Plague. Okay, with that said, let’s get started:

Updated NBA Odds To Win 2016 Finals

  

The Favorites

Golden State Warriors 5/7 Cleveland Cavaliers 17/5 San Antonio Spurs 7/2 Oklahoma City Thunder 10/1Analysis: Just one week ago, the Warriors were 4/5 favorites while the Cavaliers were 3/1 faves, the Spurs 16/5 and the Thunder 12/1.Now, the Cavaliers and Thunder have improved their odds of winning it all while the Spurs have taken the slightest step backwards, at least in the minds of oddsmakers.Cleveland is playing a lot better and more free-flowing offensively under Tyronn Lue while Oklahoma City’s narrow loss against the Warriors despite a great effort, apparently boosted oddsmakers’ belief that the Thunder could potentially upset either Golden State or San Antonio.In the case of the Warriors, they won 11 straight prior to the annual all-star break and show no signs of slowing down although they face tough games this week against a revitalized Portland team and their hated rivals, the L.A. Clippers.

The Contenders

Los Angeles Clippers 30/1 Chicago Bulls 50/1 Toronto Raptors 40/1 Atlanta Hawks 80/1 Indiana Pacers 100/1 Boston Celtics 50/1 Miami Heat 70/1Analysis: Speaking of the Clippers, their championship odds remained the same as a week ago despite narrowly beating awful Philadelphia in overtime before falling to streaking Boston 139-134 in OT one game later in their final pre-all-star break contest.The streaking Celtics were 75/1 favorites one week ago, but they’ve seen their odds of winning it all improve after winning five of their last six games with wins over Cleveland and the Clippers along the way.The Chicago Bulls were 40/1 favorites a week ago, but they’ve lost four straight and six of their last seven games overall mostly because they’ve forgotten how to play defense under Fred Hoiberg after putting their opponents on lock-down for years under former head coach Tom Thibodeau. Chicago has given up at least 108 points in each of their last four games and at least 105 points in each of their last half-dozen losses.The Hawks and Pacers have both seen their odds of winning the 2016 NBA Championship decrease slightly from a week ago after being identical +6500 favorites while Miami has improved ever so slightly to a +700 pick after being a +7500 pick a week ago.

The Longshots

Houston Rockets 125/1 Memphis Grizzlies 150/1 Washington Wizards 125/1 Detroit Pistons 350/1 New York Knicks 1500/1 Charlotte Hornets 500/1 Dallas Mavericks 250/1 Sacramento Kings 1000/1 Utah Jazz 600/1 New Orleans Pelicans 1000/1 Portland Blazers 750/1 Milwaukee Bucks 1500/1 Orlando Magic 2000/1 Brooklyn Nets 9999/1 Denver Nuggets 9999/1 Minnesota Timberwolves 9999/1 Phoenix Suns 9999/1Analysis: Several teams in my ‘Longshots’ category have seen their NBA Championship odds drop from a week ago with the realization that each team will likely being playing out the second half without much of a chance of upsetting anyone if they do reach the playoffs.There are two strange moves among these teams however with the Orlando Magic dropping from +8500 favorites to +2000 picks despite beating Boston and Atlanta twice while narrowly falling to the Spurs 98-96 just before the break.An ever stranger change was made with the red-hot Portland Trail Blazers (27-27 SU, 30-24 ATS) dropping from a 600/1 favorite to 750/1 despite winning three straight and eight of their last nine games before the break.Last but not least, don’t ask me why oddsmakers have improved the Washington Wizards’ chances of winning it all, but they sure have. John Wall and company were +1500 favorites a week ago and now they sit at +1250 despite losing two of their last three games, four of their last six and a discouraging seven of their last 10 games overall.