Lakers vs. Warriors NBA playoffs Game 1 odds, trends: Split action on spread, big money on Stephen Curry, LeBron James props
LeBron James and Stephen Curry renew their NBA playoff rivalry tonight.
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Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Lakers and Warriors in San Francisco on Tuesday night will be historic -- it's the first postseason matchup in league history featuring competing players with at least four NBA titles and two regular-season MVP Awards in L.A.'s LeBron James and Golden State's Stephen Curry. The Warriors are 4.5-point favorites for the opener at BetMGM. Click here for model picks.
As of this writing, 54% of the bets and 43% of the handle are on the Warriors against the spread. On the total of 227.5 points, 52% of the bets and 51% of handle are on the Over. The Lakers, +155 on the moneyline, are taking 64% of the bets and 50% of the handle.
There are seven players who fit that noted criteria above, and the other five are retired: Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson and Tim Duncan. At least one James and Curry has been in the NBA Finals in 11 of the previous 12 years. They've combined for 60,364 regular season points, the second-most by opposing players in NBA playoff history. Curry is fresh off a 50-point effort in Game 7 against the Kings, the first-ever 50-point Game 7.
While it's the first playoff series between these franchises since 1991 (how is that possible?), it's the fifth postseason series between James and Curry, with Curry leading 3-1. All four previous meetings came in the NBA Finals when James was in Cleveland. In playoff games, Curry's record against James is 15-7.
The Warriors were favored in all four previous series and are -150 on the series line here. They have now won an astonishing 19 straight playoff series against Western Conference foes. In the last round, Golden State became the first defending champion to lose the first two games of a playoff series and still advance to the next round. This is also only the second time in NBA playoff history that No. 6 and No. 7 seeds will face each other in a series. In the 1987 Western Conference semis, No. 7 Seattle lost in six games to No. 6 Houston.
The Lakers won three of four in the regular-season series, with all three wins coming since L.A. remade its team at the trade deadline. The Warriors won the only tilt in which Curry and James both played, which was a 123-109 affair on opening night in San Francisco.
The most-wagered player props tonight are Curry Over 31.5 points at -120, James Over 5.5 assists at -120, and Jordan Poole Over 12.5 points at -110. Poole struggled this season after signing a big contact and averaged just 12.0 points on 33.8% shooting in Round 1 vs. Sacramento.
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