Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters that he like the way the Clippers organization built their team, an approach that made them better down the stretch.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re the young upstarts now,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cWe\u2019re the veteran team. We have a ton of respect for them, and what they\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Other Western Conference Matchups<\/h2>\n
Oddsmakers aren\u2019t going by seedings in determining lines for the other best-of-seven series out west.<\/p>\n
At the SuperBook, sixth-seeded Oklahoma City is a -150 favorite over Portland in their first-round series, which starts on Sunday. That\u2019s primarily due to the fact the Thunder beat Portland (+130) in all four of their regular season matchups. In addition, the Trail Blazers will play without center Jusuf Nurkic. The starter is out for the season after suffering a compound fracture in his left leg in a game last month.<\/p>\n
FanDuel offers the Thunder at -172 and the Blazers at +140.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, fourth-seeded Houston has -400 odds at the SuperBook and -300 odds at FanDuel over fifth-seeded Utah (+300\/+230). Their series starts Sunday.<\/p>\n
Denver, the second seed, is -200 at the SuperBook and -240 at FanDuel over San Antonio (+170\/+190) in the series that starts Saturday night.<\/p>\n
NBA Eastern Conference<\/h2>\n
The sportsbooks see the Eastern Conference matchups as pretty much cut and dried.<\/p>\n
The top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks are a -10000 selection at the SuperBook over the Detroit Pistons in the first round. FanDuel gives the Bucks, led by Most Valuable Player candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo, -4000 odds.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo, nicknamed the \u201cGreek Freak,\u201d averaged 30 points and 12.2 rebounds a game over March and April to help the Bucks earn home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. While Milwaukee hasn\u2019t won a playoff series in 18 years, their superstar said the team isn\u2019t putting any additional pressure on itself.<\/p>\n
\n
“As a team, we know what our goal is,” Antetokounmpo told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel<\/em>. “We haven’t recently been out of the first round. We have to take it step by step.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nMilwaukee-Detroit (+2000\/+1650) starts on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
In other Eastern Conference matchups:<\/p>\n
The Toronto Raptors, the second seed, hold -1400 odds at the SuperBook and -1200 at FanDuel over the Orlando Magic (+800\/+710) in a series that starts on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers are -800 favorites at the SuperBook and -550 through FanDuel over the Brooklyn Nets (+550\/+390) in a series that starts on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The Boston Celtics are -700 favorites at the SuperBook over the fifth-seeded Indiana Pacers (+500\/+330). FanDuel offers the Celtics at -460. That series starts Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is never really such a thing as a sure bet, but oddsmakers think the Golden State Warriors advancing out of the first round of the National Basketball Association playoffs is close to it. The Warriors, the two-time defending world champions and this year\u2019s top seed in the Western Conference, aren\u2019t just heavy favorites to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":102736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Golden State Heavy First Round Favorites as NBA Playoffs Start Saturday<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n