The 2015-16 NBA season comes down to this, Game 7 at Oracle Arena with the Golden State Warriors hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers. Continue reading for our NBA Game 7 Preview and Betting Tips.
- - -
Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers (Monday 10am AEST)
It looked as if the series was over when the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers on the road in Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 lead back home. However, the Cavs led by the dominant force of Lebron James and with help from Kyrie Irving they have managed to level the series at 3 a piece and force a game 7.
The Warriors will return home to their fortress that has been breached on a couple of occasions in the playoffs but they will need their fans to lift them after they will be down on confidence. The return of Draymond Green to the line up was offset with Andrew Bogut being ruled out for the series and Andre Iguodala was having back spasms. They will need him at his best and at full health because James was able to drop 41-points on his defence whilst he grabbed 8 rebounds and 11 assists in what was one of the best Finals performances of all time. At one point James scored 18 straight points for the Cavaliers and if he can put together another dominant performance like that, he could be taking his Finals series record to 3-4 instead of seeing it drop to 2-5.
The splash brothers still haven’t been able to get going on the same night as Curry found himself in foul trouble early on and that continued throughout the match until he was fouled out of the game with 4 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The two-time MVP lost his composure and threw his mouthguard in disgust after he received his sixth foul and it resulted in a technical foul and he was ejected from the court and forced to listen to the singing of the Cavaliers as he headed into the locker room. That could be the spark the point guard needs to put on an improved performance in Game 7, similar to how James put on 41-points on the road as he was booed by the Warriors crowd every time he touched the ball.
The biggest difference in this series since the opening games and the last couple that the Cavaliers have dominated is the production from the benches. In the first two games the Warriors took a 2-0 lead on the back of their bench having a huge impact whilst Curry and Thompson hadn’t contributed much. However, in the last two matches the Cavs bench has been huge and the Warriors bench has dropped off. Meanwhile Harrison Barnes has faded away and shot just 2-21 in the last two games and his confidence has taken a serious hit. They need him to produce on the offensive end, especially if Iguodala is still having his back troubles come game day.
Tristan Thompson scored 15-points and had 16 rebounds but always performs better on his home court. He will need to produce a big game on the road and continue to fight for offensive boards to give the Cavs important second chance opportunities.
The Warriors were blown away early in Game 6 and they should have a much better start on their home court. They will be very frustrated with themselves after relinquishing their 3-1 lead and it will be a highly hostile match. If they are able to maintain their composure and not get too emotionally invested into the contest then they will be able to get the victory. The Warriors need to go back to what made them so successful over the past two seasons and that is by having a strong defence that forces turnovers and they capitalise on the break with their fast offence and when they are set at the half court they pass the ball around, drive to the rim and find the open shooter. Lebron James will do his best to earn victory for his team and we expect him to go huge but the home team has won 15 of the 18 game 7’s played in the Finals and we are predicting the Warriors to win this one by a big score line.
TIP: Warriors -5 @ $1.91 with Sportsbet
_ _ _
Take note: Any of the tips in this article are simply the author’s opinion, so bet at your own risk and always gamble responsibly. Also be sure to check out the Before You Bet Twitter Page for all our thoughts in the lead up to bets! Happy punting!
