The San Antonio Spurs are just 4-9 SU in their last 13 games against the Miami Heat, but they are the betting favorite entering the seven-game series against the defending champions this week.
NBA Finals Betting: Spurs Favored vs. Heat in Game 1 Odds
Miami is a rare underdog in Game and an underdog to San Antonio is odds to win the NBA title. Check out the latest stats and trends from Odds Shark.
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San Antonio is going off at -125 in odds to win the 2014 NBA championship series, with Miami paying +105.
San Antonio had one of the strangest series of the postseason against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The first five games of the series were all double-digit blowouts by the home team, with San Antonio winning Games 1, 2 and 5 and losing 3 and 4.
But the trend was broken in Game 6 when the Spurs upset Oklahoma City as a 3.5-point road underdog in an overtime thriller. Since Game 7 against Dallas, San Antonio is 9-3 SU and ATS including a 7-0 SU and ATS record at home.
For the fourth straight year, the Miami Heat have advanced to the NBA Finals. Miami was able to mow through the Eastern Conference with a 12-3 SU and 10-5 ATS record. The Heat lost Game 1 to the Pacers in Indiana, but went 4-1 SU and ATS over the last five games of the series capped off by a 117-92 blowout in Game 6 as an 8.5-point favorite to advance into the finals.
Last year’s NBA Finals between these two teams went the full seven games, with San Antonio going 3-2 SU and ATS over the first five games before Miami went 2-0 SU and 1-1 ATS at home to close out the series.
This time around San Antonio will be the team with home court advantage, and the NBA Finals format will be played 2-2-1-1-1 instead of the 2-3-2 of previous years.
Spurs bettors are looking at the 0-6 SU, 1-5 ATS streak for the Heat as underdogs.
The total has gone OVER in five of the last seven games between Miami and San Antonio. The Miami Heat have trended heavily towards the OVER this postseason at 11-3-1. The Spurs on the other hand have had the total go UNDER in four of their last five games, with Game 6 only going OVER the total due to overtime.
San Antonio opened as a 3.5-point favorite in Game 1 basketball lines.
