BetOnline patrons may have imagined the mood was grim when the Sacramento Kings routed the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of their Western Conference playoff series. No one in the G-State locker room was happy with this performance, and Steph Curry was particularly upset. He grabbed the group and gave them a speech, straight from the heart, on the eve of the seventh and deciding game and expressed that this was still a championship team, and they were much more capable of handling these all-or-nothing situations than the young Kings were.
It was a rather intense moment; of course, he was right. Sacramento, as a group, had not been down that road before. And they certainly didn’t know what they were about to see from Curry, who can still bring it to a high level at age 35.
All the two-time MVP did was set a record for most points in a Game 7, chalking up 50 points in a runaway that may not have been expected in the other team’s building. The 120-100 final was a sign that the Warriors aren’t going away quietly, despite a disappointing regular season. Those great Boston Celtics teams of Red Auerbach and Bill Russell, you know, didn’t always finish high in the standings before they mounted a run when it really counted most.
And if you want to talk about teams who want to let opponents know they are still very much present and accounted for, the Los Angeles Lakers took the higher-seeded Memphis Grizzlies over their collective knee and spanked them. They dealt the Grizz their worst playoff loss ever, ramming a 125-85 win down their throats. There was drama in the series, and it taught some lessons in the process. Dillon Brooks got a little mouthy about LeBron James and proceeded to go out and shoot 31.2% from the field in the six-game series.
Clearly, the Warriors won’t be able to take advantage of the relative inexperience of this opponent, and in Game 1, which begins at 10 PM ET in San Francisco, the Dubs are favored in the odds posted at BetOnline casino:
Golden State Warriors -4.5
Los Angeles Lakers +4.5
Over 228 Points -110
Under 228 Points -110
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Not everyone with the Warriors was super-happy with that Game 7 result. The sports bettors at top NBA betting sites were highly upset with the results. Klay Thompson hit only four of 19 shots from the field, and you can imagine that if he can hit some threes and take some of the burden away from Curry, this is going to put an awful lot of pressure on the Laker guards.
Up front, can Los Angeles extract some kind of edge?
Well, when you’ve got to go up against Anthony Davis, you’ve got something to overcome because they can get enough scoring from the backcourt, along with small forward Andrew Wiggins, who looks like he’s rounding into form after taking all his “personal” time and averaged 18.1 points per game against the Kings.
And one has to appreciate the monster effort that has come from Kevon Looney, who had 37 offensive rebounds versus Sacramento and has totaled 20 caroms or more in three of his last five games. Combine that with Draymond Green, who can defend just about any position just about all the time, and the fact that LeBron isn’t going to dominate every night anymore, and we can exhibit some confidence in moving with home-standing Golden State in this situation.
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