FiveThirtyEight Has Warriors as Underdogs in NBA Finals Game 1 Regardless of Opponent
By Scott Rogust
Game 5 of the Eastern Conference took place on Thursday night, with the Toronto Raptors taking a huge 3-2 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks after capturing a road win. The Golden State Warriors, on the other hand, have a week-plus break after sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers.
The real question now is who will have the advantage in the NBA Finals?
FiveThirtyEight released their projections for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and the Warriors are listed as underdogs, regardless of their opponent.
Am I interpreting this incorrectly, or does FiveThirtyEight have the Warriors as underdogs in the Finals regardless of who advances out of the East...? ? pic.twitter.com/TOZIZlekFY
— Peter Nygaard (@RetepAdam) May 23, 2019
That is certainly a stunner, considering how well the Warriors have performed in the past two rounds.
However, this move on the projection scale likely tilted after news broke of Kevin Durant likely missing the beginning of the Finals due to his calf injury. Durant has been out since Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Houston Rockets and has yet to be cleared for on-court activities.
There's also DeMarcus Cousins, who's expected to return at "some point" in the Finals, but specifics remain unknown. Cousins was sidelined with a quadricep injury he suffered in the opening round of the playoffs.
KD is “unlikely” to play at the beginning of the NBA Finals
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 23, 2019
Boogie is expected to play “at some point” in the series pic.twitter.com/E5OJ5bsBf6
Even with these injuries for the Dubs, it's hard to bet against them with the way they've been playing, especially after KD went down.