Who was the favorite in the 2012 NBA Finals?

[Clay Puppington]

A discussion I saw on another board
It was split pretty closely

OKC or Miami?

 

[Draje]

A discussion I saw on another board
It was split pretty closely

OKC or Miami?

Bosh has suffered a serious injury, OKC had just come back and smashed the Spurs in 4 straight games after losing the first two, etc.

I remember OKC having the edge on betting and analysts but people forget that

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

Pretty sure the thunder were slight betting favorites. The majority of the writers for espn had the thunder in I think 5-6 games.

 

[Dilltastic VolWon(derful)]

Miami was favored because of the matchup; Lebron always owned KD in his head to heads and especially during that season.

The Spurs were always the tougher matchup for the Heat and I don’t remember anyone really thinking OKC had a chance.

It also didn’t help James Harden pulled his usual disappearance act when the team needs him most

 

[FTBS]

OKC. People were ready to crown KD as the clutch killer supreme of the league. Bron still had the stain of the 2011 Finals on him and there was a running narrative throughout the year about his "clutch gene" or lack thereof due to a bunch of misses and passes late in games.

 

[collateral.]

Clearly Miami.

 

[letti cook]

did some googles and saw a lot of Thunder in 6

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

did some googles and saw a lot of Thunder in 6

They had home court, a better top 4 due to Ibaka being better than Miami’s 4th best player being either Haslem or Chalmers, and they were healthy as opposed to Wade, Bosh, and Miller all being hurt.

 

[Black Haven]

Russ, KD, and harden were on a tear in the western conference sweeping the Mavs ending the Lakers in 5 and beating the Spurs in 4 straight games they were the clear favs and after game 1 of the NBA finals everyone thought it was over for the heat.

 

[THE MACHINE]

OKC was favored. Swept the defending champ Mavs, beat down the Lakers, and beat the Spurs in 6. The world was sleeping on those Boston and Indiana teams the Heat beat and Bosh was coming off an injury.

NBA Finals Historical Series Odds List

2012 NBA Finals: Thunder favored by Vegas oddsmakers

The Oklahoma City Thunder opened at 10/17 favorites to win the NBA title Monday (money line -170), according to Bovada.lv. Pretty narrow there, with the Heat at 3/2 odds,. The Thunder are also five-point favorites at home Tuesday night in Game of the 2012 NBA Finals.

It's become an interesting storyline since the Heat won the Eastern Conference Championship Saturday night as the Heat find themselves underdogs to a team with three stars who have never one played in an NBA Finals game, and only a handful of supporting role players with Finals experience (though to be fair Derek Fisher has enough for everyone).

Also of note, LeBron James' over/under on points per game in this series is set at 29.5 points per game, with Kevin Durant's at 28.5, right behind him. Durant is favored to win the Finals MVP award at 1/1 odds with James behind him at 2/1. Serge Ibaka is at 20/1 if you feel like setting fire to some cash.

It'll be interesting to see how the Heat perform as underdogs, the superteam behind the young guns in the oddsmakers' eyes.

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

OKC. They looked unbeatable vs. Spurs. The Spurs didn’t even play bad. OKC just went into godmode for 4 games. They shot something like 52% on perimeter shots in that series. Ibaka couldn’t miss. Even Perkins bum ass was hitting J’s.

Then in the finals they didn’t play as well. Harden was asscheeks.