The Oklahoma City Thunder are still favored to win the NBA Finals.
The Indiana Pacers took a 2-1 series lead after a 116-107 win in Game 3 on Wednesday night, yet are still significant underdogs to win the series. The Thunder are -250 to win three of the next four games at BetMGM while the Pacers are still +200 despite needing just two more victories.
As they did in Game 1, the Pacers outplayed the Thunder in the fourth quarter to take a series lead. The Pacers have not trailed in a series all playoffs, and the Thunder lost their previous two Game 3s on the road to the Nuggets and Timberwolves before Wednesday night’s game.
Oklahoma City won Game 4 after those losses in the previous two series and also took Game 5 back at home. Friday night’s Game 4 is in Indianapolis before the series returns to OKC on Monday.
The Thunder are favored by 6.5 points to win Friday night. They covered in Game 2 but are otherwise also 1-2 against the spread. Oklahoma City was careless with the ball on Wednesday night as Indiana employed a full-court press on a regular basis after made baskets. The Thunder turned the ball over 17 times and only forced 13 turnovers themselves. OKC also missed nine of its last 10 shots and allowed Indiana to shoot nearly 52% from the field despite the Pacers going just 9-of-27 from behind the 3-point line.
If the Thunder are to come back and win the series as favorites, the most likely outcome is now a seven-game series. The Thunder in seven is +170 at BetMGM, while a six-game series win is +195. If you think the Pacers can win the series, there’s serious money to be made on the correct result. A six-game Pacers win is +575, a win in Game 7 is +725 and three straight wins to close out the series in Game 5 is +1000.
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