NBA Pick #1: 501 Cleveland Cavaliers @ 502 Golden State Warriors
Rating: 4 units - Regular Play
Pick: Under 217.5 (Play up to 216)
Odds: -102 / 1.98 on Pinnacle Sports OR -110 / 1.91 on Betonline
Cleveland last season felt that they could play Golden State at a fast pace and this was why four of the five games of the finals were super high scoring contests. This season, I believe Cleveland will have an identical approach to the first finals where they had to face the Warriors by forcing grind out games, where they try to outrebounded Golden State in order to make the series competitive. This was how Cleveland played on Games 6 and 7 against Boston in the previous round, where these two games had paces slower than 90. Golden State without Iguodala will have to play Looney and Bell, two non-shooters/non-offensive playmakers, which will make the task of defending the Warriors easier on this Game 1. Therefore, I'll be taking the Under in here.