2011 NBA Finals
The Miami Heat are just four wins away from the NBA title, but first they'll have to get past the Dallas Mavericks. Miami is a consensus -180 favorite in the series, while the Mavs are +160.Remember to shop for the best line before placing any series wager. At The Greek, bettors can lay -170 on the Heat, but will only get +150 back on Dallas, while Sports Interaction has the Heat -200 and +162 on the Mavericks.
You can also wager on how many games it will take for the winning team to wrap up the title. We'll show odds from the Greek and then Sports Interaction, so you can see the discrepancy between the two different sportsbooks.
Correct Series Score Wagers:
Mavs win 4-0 +1815 +2200Mavs win 4-1 +765 +1200
Mavs win 4-2 +685 +500
Mavs win 4-3 +645 +650
Heat wins 4-0 +1015 +900
Heat wins 4-1 +685 +330
Heat wins 4-2 +325 +450
Heat wins 4-3 +285 +300
The biggest differences are for those bettors who believe Dallas win win quickly, as they are much better betting at Sports Interaction, while those who believe Miami will win in four or five games would want to look to The Greek, especially those who see Miami winning in five, as the odds are twice as better at The Greek.
A number of bettors may find it more beneficial to bet the correct number of games than the traditional series bet, especially if they see the series going six or seven games.
Another wager some books are offering is an over/under of 5.5 on the number of games the series goes. The over is a big favorite (-278 at Sports Interaction and -220 at Bodog), which tends to support those bettors who will look at taking their team to win in six or seven games at much better odds than the traditional series price.
More sportsbooks will start offering other wagers, such as player propositions, alternate point spreads and alternate totals as we get closer to game time, while others, such as Bodog, already have a number of proposition wagers on the board.
Remember to shop for odds, bet with your head and not your heart and don't go overboard since it's the final games of the NBA season and you'll have a more enjoyable time watching the NBA Finals.
