Just like when Dorothy told the Scarecrow she would miss him the most within the other two guys’ hearing range, many online betting sportsbooks are treating the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs’ respective rivals – the Portland Trailblazers and Oklahoma City Thunder – as mere afterthoughts.
The Warriors are so much the favorites (-575) over the Blazers (+438) that head coach Steve ‘Summer of ‘69’ Kerr could afford the luxury of benching league MVP Stephen Curry even if he were fully healthy. To be sure, it’s not like Golden State missed him when they curb-stomped Portland in Game 1 of their second round series.
Likewise, the Spurs (-350) flattened the Thunder 124-94. Therefore, most sports betting experts agree that the Warriors could and should keep Curry in that suave get-up he wears to cheer his teammates on, and only have him suit up – or down, in this case – when the time comes to face San Antonio. All of which of course presupposes that both GS and the Spurs will move on to the Conference Finals and have what some describe as the series we all have been waiting since November (I wasn’t).
Unfortunately – in the sense that there is no suspense or excitement, and also because the Spurs stink – that is going to be the case. In fact, the NBA should save us all a lot of time – and spare Portland and Oklahoma the humiliation – and just go straight ahead to the Western Conference finals between San Antonio and Golden State. As it is, these two series serve no purpose other than provide people betting on basketball with an easy, if not lucrative, bet. An injured star can derail the Los Angeles Clippers, but not the Warriors – or the Spurs either, for that matter, but that’s only because they don’t have any real stars.
On the other hand, that’s why we have underdogs in online betting. Remember when the Denver Nuggets knocked off the Seattle Supersonics in 1994? Neither do I. But it definitely happened. And it’s the exact same story that we have now, except it was over 20 years ago, it occurred in the first round – which was played to the best of five back then –, and the Spurs were happily eliminated by the Utah Jazz. The point is that anything can happen; all we have to do is have faith and hope that the Oklahoma Thunder will put the San Antonio Spurs out of our misery. And as for the Trailblazers… the Blazers… sorry, I got nothing. Curry or no Curry, they’re pretty much screwed – unless Clyde Drexler returns from the grave, and he ain’t even dead, so there you go.