NBA Finals Historical Odds

NBA Finals Historical Series Odds: Home Favorites Dominate Game 1

The 2025 NBA playoffs are ready to tip off, and the eyes of the basketball world are on the road to the Finals. The top contenders from the East and West will clash with the goal of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. As the postseason unfolds, we've diving into the historical NBA Finals series odds to see how past matchups, betting trends and upsets can shape 2025's championship outlook. 

Teams have everything to play for as the playoffs determine who the next NBA champion will be. For savvy bettors, our NBA Finals Historical Series odds can offer a roadmap to spotting patterns and getting ahead of the market.  

NBA Finals Historical Series Betting

Now, it hasn't been a clean sweep since 2014 for the Western Conference champions capturing the NBA crown, but as we can plainly see here, oddsmakers have been infatuated with the best of the West by favoring them in 10 of the 11 NBA Finals. Boston broke a trend of 10 consecutive Western team's favored to lift the Larry O'Brien last season. 

The biggest discrepancy came in 2017 when the Golden State Warriors were an overwhelming -2000 favorite to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers, with Golden State ultimately winning that series in five games.

YearWestern Conference Champion OddsEastern Conference ChampionOdds
2024Dallas Mavericks+185Boston Celtics-225
2023Denver Nuggets-430Miami Heat+330
2022Golden State Warriors-190Boston Celtics+280
2021Phoenix Suns-200Milwaukee Bucks+165
2020Los Angeles Lakers-330Miami Heat+265
2019Golden State Warriors-280Toronto Raptors+175
2018Golden State Warriors-167Cleveland Cavaliers+1100
2017Golden State Warriors-2000Cleveland Cavaliers+1000
2016Golden State Warriors-200Cleveland Cavaliers+162
2015Golden State Warriors-190Cleveland Cavaliers+170
2014San Antonio Spurs-125Miami Heat+105

NBA Finals Game 1 Betting Trends

Kicking off a series with a home victory doesn't always tell the tale of how it will ultimately unfold, but it's as good a start as any if you're looking to win four of seven. However, the losing team in Game 1 has come back to win the series in two of the last four years. So, failing to take Game 1 isn't the end. 

The home side has been favored to take Game 1 each of the last 11 years, and have gone 9-2 ATS. 

YearHome TeamGame 1 Final ScoreHome Team SpreadResult
2024Boston Celtics107-89 Celtics over MavericksCeltics -6.5Celtics Cover (Favorites)
2023Denver Nuggets104-93 Nuggets over HeatNuggets -9Nuggets Cover (Favorites)
2022Golden State Warriors120-98 Celtics over WarriorsWarriors -3.5Celtics Cover (Underdogs)
2021Phoenix Suns118-105 Suns over BucksSuns -6Suns Cover (Favorites)
2020Los Angeles Lakers116-98 Lakers over HeatLakers -5Lakers Cover (Favorites)
2019Toronto Raptors118-109 Raptors over WarriorsRaptors -1.5Raptors Cover (Favorites)
2018Golden State Warriors124-114 Warriors over CavaliersWarriors -12Cavaliers Cover (Underdogs)
2017Golden State Warriors113-91 Warriors over CavaliersWarriors -7.5Warriors Cover (Favorites)
2016Golden State Warriors104-89 Warriors over CavaliersWarriors -6Warriors Cover (Favorites)
2015Golden State Warriors108-100 Warriors over CavaliersWarriors -6Warriors Cover (Favorites)
2014San Antonio Spurs110-95 Spurs over HeatSpurs -4.5Spurs Cover (Favorites)

NBA Finals Total Games Betting Trends

A fun prop to bet on throughout any postseason is wagering on how long a specific series will go. Intriguingly, no NBA Finals series has gone the full seven games since the epic Warriors vs Cavaliers Game 7 back in 2016. 

In the case of the Finals, with the exception of the Warriors-Cavaliers matchup which graced us for far too long from 2015 through 2018, there was a four-year streak of the series going exactly six games prior to the Denver Nuggets beating the Heat in 2023 in just five. Backing the NBA Finals to finish in UNDER six games is the safe play for 2025. 

YearMatchupResultTotal Games
2024Boston Celtics vs. Dallas MavericksCeltics 4-15
2023Miami Heat vs. Denver NuggetsNuggets 4-15
2022Boston Celtics vs. Golden State WarriorsWarriors 4-26
2021Phoenix Suns vs. Milwaukee BucksBucks 4-26
2020Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles LakersLakers 4-26
2019Toronto Raptors vs. Golden State WarriorsRaptors 4-26
2018Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State WarriorsWarriors 4-04
2017Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State WarriorsWarriors 4-15
2016Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State WarriorsCavaliers 4-37
2015Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State WarriorsWarriors 4-26
2014Miami Heat vs. San Antonio SpursSpurs 4-15
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