The Golden State Warriors are odds-on favourites with bookmakers to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals tonight.
Led by regular season MVP Stephen Curry, the Oakland-based franchise are 4/17 to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series in bet365’s NBA Finals Odds market.
After back-to-back defeats to the Cavaliers, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr tinkered with his starting unit and went small in Game 4. He put Andre Iguodala in place of Andrew Bogut and the gamble paid off as the veteran wingman who usually comes off the bench delivered.
Iguodala finished with 22 points and eight rebounds to lead the Warriors to a 103-82 rout at the Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday night. Curry also scored 22 points and dished out six assists as the Warriors (4/17 to win series) outscored their opponents 27-12 in the fourth quarter.
Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes also stepped up after struggling in Game 3. Green had 17 points while Barnes tallied 14 and grabbed eight rebounds.
LeBron James was held to a series-low 20 points after shooting 7-of-22 from the field and suffered a cut on his head after slamming into a cameraman late in the first half. Timofey Mozgov picked up the cudgels as he paced the Cavaliers with a career-high 28 points to go with 10 rebounds.
Cleveland’s bench was a non-factor in Game 4 so head coach David Blatt expects a better performance from JR Smith and company.
