The NBA Playoffs are a long distance run and with Miami and Dallas winning the Eastern and Western Conference championships, the playoffs have made the turn for a sprint home – the 2011 NBA Finals. Beginning Tuesday, May 31, the Heat have home court advantage when they play the Dallas Mavericks in a best-of-seven game series with Games 1-and-2 to be played at Miami's American Airlines Arena.
Across the offshore NBA Finals Odds board, the Heat are listed as -200 odds favorites to win the series while Mavericks backers are getting +160 as series underdogs. Betting lines will vary slightly at sportsbooks so it's recommended you shop around for a betting line that fits you best.
It took a 15-3 season ending run for Miami to earn a two-seed in the Eastern Conference NBA Playoffs. However, oddsmakers quickly installed Miami as pre-playoffs conference favorites at +160, better than the top-seeded Bulls getting +175. Once the playoffs started, Miami was installed as favorite to win the 2011 NBA championship at +275.
The Mavericks did not enter the 2011 playoffs with the Heats credentials but were still getting respect. Dallas finished second to San Antonio in the Southwest Division but entered the playoffs as three-seeds behind Southwest Division winners and Western Conference top-seeds San Antonio Spurs and 2-seeds Los Angeles Lakers, winners of the Pacific Division. Dallas began playoffs play as long-shots to win the conference at +800 and +1600 to win the NBA Championship.
The Heat and Mavericks were near equals in the regular season with the Heat finishing one-game better with 58 wins compared to 57 for the Mavericks. Dallas was better covering the betting spread going 42-35-4 ATS while Miami struggled ATS going 39-42-1. In head to head competition, the Heat and Mavericks split SU, each winning on their own home court, but the Mavericks were the best bet in the series going 2-0 ATS.
For Tuesday's Game-1, NBA Finals Odds show the Heat as 4 1/2-ATS and -400 moneyline favorites with a 186 1/2 total.
