Cavaliers and Warriors Remains Teams to Beat
Scott Morris | December 26, 2016
When the current NBA regular season began in late October the heavy favorites to win the Eastern Conference were the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Western Conference the Golden State Warriors. Since then there has not been much change as the season is now about one third complete.
In sports, such as the NFL, the futures for the Super Bowl change each week due to the season being so short with only 16 regular season games while the NBA has 82 and other sports such as MLB has a 162-game regular season and the NHL has an 82-game regular season.
Currently Golden State has odds of 2 to 5 to win the West. While the team will not break its record of regular season wins set last season, they hold the league’s best overall mark thus far at 27-5.
The acquisition of Kevin Durant has been almost seamless as he is the leading scorer for the Warriors and leads the team in free throws attempted and made, blocks and is second in rebounding.
The Warriors as a team are leading the NBA in points scored, assists, blocks, steals and field goal percentage.
Close behind the Warriors are the San Antonio Spurs at 4 to 1 to win the West. The Spurs are a very strong team with LaMarcus Aldridge, Kwahi Leonard and Pau Gasol leading the way.
Other teams that could give Golden State a run for its money are the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets.
In the Eastern Conference, it is Cleveland and the rest. The Cavaliers with LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and a great supporting cast are 1 to 3 to win the East.
The Cavaliers showed on Christmas Day why they are the defending NBA champions with a 109-108 win over Golden State.
The one team that might give the Cavaliers a test for the Eastern Conference title are the Toronto Raptors who are currently 8 t 1 to win the conference.
Boston to start the season was considered one of the teams that could give Cleveland a run but the team has been inconsistent due to many player injuries.
