The second round of the 2016 NBA playoffs has winded down, has your team made it to the conference finals?
Unless you’re from the Bay Area or Cleveland or yeah from Oklahoma or Toronto whose teams had difficulty advancing to the conference finals, you could be one of three things right now.
You could be rooting for another team to beat the team that has beaten your team (payback is a bitch), you could be a bandwagoner and has jumped on to cheering for the winning team regardless of the conference they’re part of, or you just don’t give a fuck because your team lost and you don’t care who wins the coveted Larry O’Brien trophy.
Whatever you are right now, here’s a recap and the betting odds to help you get through the rest of the NBA season.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers’ Big Three was on the roll.
Lebron James scored 25 points, Kyrie Irving added 21, and Kevin Love, who was injured when the teams met in the postseason last year, added 17 points, which led to 104-93 Game 1 victory over Atlanta Hawks.
The Cavaliers drained an NBA record 25 3-pointers – the most in any regular season or playoff game – during a 123-98 Game 2. And the big three had their usual stellar performance during the Game 3 with 121-108 victory.
After Game 4, the Cavs became the first team to finish off the second-round series with four straight wins, just as they did in the opening round against Detroit. Now, fully healthy and finally comfortable together after some rocky moments, LeBron & Co. get to rest up for the Eastern Conference finals.
Odds to win Eastern Finals: -650
Toronto Raptors
Good news, the Raptors have broken their first-round playoff jinx and advanced to Eastern finals for the first time after 21 years. Bad news, they will be facing the Cavaliers.
Miami Heat doused Toronto Raptors in Game 1 and earned an OT win at 102-96, after Kyle Lowry’s halfcourt shot tied it at the buzzer. Goran Dragic scored 26 points and Dwyane Wade had seven of his 24 in overtime.
But in Game 2, overtime went the way of the Toronto Raptors. DeMarre Carroll scored 21 points, Valanciunas had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and the Raptors beat the Miami Heat 96-92.
Lowry got his game back and scored 33 points including five straight to break a late tie in a duel with Wade, leading to a 95-91 Raptors’ victory over the Heat in Game 3.
Wade held on and destroyed Raptors with 30 points. The Heat’s 94-87 victory tied the series 2-2 in Game 4. But the Heat’s loss to Toronto in Game 4 left them at a 3-2 deficit in this best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Heat held on for another game after winning Game 6 at 103-91 but in the end it was the Raptors who advanced to Eastern conference finals after beating Miami in Game 7 at 116-89.
Odds to win Eastern Finals: +650
Golden State Warriors
With Stephen Curry sidelined because of a sprained right knee, his fellow “Splash Brother” Klay Thompson with Draymond Green took charge.
Damian Lillard had another slow start back home in the Bay Area, missing 11 of his first 13 shots before finishing with 30 points but to his credit Thompson had the tough chore of stopping him. The Warriors whip Portland at home in opener of West semifinals at 106-118.
In Game 2, the Warriors are still missing their MVP but they rallied to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 110-99. The Trailblazers got lucky and cut the Warriors advantage to 2-1 after Lillard had a playoff-best 40 points. Trail Blazers beat the Golden State 120-108 on Game 3.
Curry returns in Game 4 with whopping 40 points which led to 132-125 OT win over Blazers and the Warriors topped the second round of the series off with 121-125 win, sending them to West finals.
Odds to win Western Finals: -160
Oklahoma City Thunder
The San Antonio was one of the favorites to win the NBA Championship and at first it was no doubt that Gregg Popovich and Co. is the team that could defeat the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers after they dismantled the Thunder in Game 1 at 124-92.
Oklahoma City even the series in Game 2 at 98-97 but Spurs made the hustle play needed to beat the Thunder in Game 3 at 100-96.
Kevin Durant got back to his best, Russell Westbrook acted more of a team player and Stephen Adams all of a sudden started playing like an All-star, which led the Thunder to again even the series in Game 4 at 97-111 and to knock off the mighty Spurs in their conference semifinals matchup in Game 5 at 97-111.
Odds to win Western Finals: +700
Odds Courtesy of Oddsshark
