David Purdum
The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the biggest betting favorites in an NBA Finals in the last 20 seasons.
The Thunder opened as -750 favorites over the Indiana Pacers in the Finals at ESPN BET. The Pacers opened as +525 underdogs on Saturday.
Since 2005, only the 2018 Golden State Warriors (-1075 vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers) had shorter odds heading into the Finals than this year’s Thunder. Game 1 is Thursday in Oklahoma City. The Thunder opened as 9-point favorites in Game 1.
Oklahoma City took care of the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games to return to the Finals for the first time since 2013. The Thunder will face a Pacers team that began the season at 50-1 to win the title, but went on a run in the playoffs and finished off the New York Knicks on Saturday in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Pacers, at 50-1, would be the biggest preseason long shots to win the championship in the last 40 years History is against them, though.
In the last 50 years, only two teams who were at least +200 underdogs to start the Finals went onto win their series (2004 Detroit Pistons +500; 2019 Toronto Raptors +230), according to betting archive SportsOddsHistory.com.
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