Surprise, surprise … the Golden State Warriors are back in the NBA Finals for the fifth straight year. Despite Kevin Durant's injury, which has sidelined the Warriors forward for the past five-and-a-half games, Golden State breezed through the Western Conference Finals to earn a shot at another championship.
In the East, the Toronto Raptors stormed back from a 2-0 series deficit to beat the Milwaukee Bucks in six games.
With the 2019 NBA Finals matchup set, oddsmakers opened the Warriors as 1-point road favorites for Thursday's Game 1.
Bettors have jumped all over Golden State, as 82% of tickets and 94% of the money wagered on the spread has come in on the defending champs at the time of publication.
While the lopsided betting favoring the Warriors isn't all that surprising, the line movement for Game 1 of the NBA Finals is much more intriguing.
The majority of bettors are overwhelmingly backing Golden State, yet the spread has flipped to Toronto -1 across the betting market.
According to Sports Insights' Bet Signals — which track and report professional betting action — sharp money hit the Raptors in four separate instances, explaining why this line has moved against the betting percentages.
While there's still plenty of time for more money to come in on this game, early line movement and betting trends suggest the pros jumped all over the Raptors as underdogs in this matchup.
