2023 NBA Finals Betting Online

2023 NBA Finals Betting Online

Only five NBA teams have never made it to the NBA Finals now that the Denver Nuggets made their first trip to the title round this summer. The Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, and New Orleans Pelicans have yet to win a conference title. Four of those teams are in the Western Conference, but they are all currently in a better position for a potential title run than the moribund Charlotte franchise.

Denver capitalized on its first trip to the NBA Finals with its first NBA championship. The Nuggets had been in the league since the ABA-NBA merger, but they had been a long-suffering franchise with only short spurts of success before Nikola Jokic arrived in the Mile High City. The two-time NBA MVP was a shoo-in to win the NBA Finals MVP after averaging a triple-double throughout the playoffs, and the Nuggets finally broke through this season with a healthy Jamal Murray and role players like Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown stepping up in big moments.

The Miami Heat ended up winning the Eastern Conference for the seventh time in 18 years this season. This was their most improbable trip to the NBA Finals yet as a No. 8 seed, but Jimmy Butler turned it on and led the Heat past Boston and Milwaukee. However, the Heat didn’t have enough to get past the Nuggets when it was all said and done.

NBA Betting Lines

2023 NBA Finals

#1 Denver Nuggets vs. #8 Miami Heat

DEN Wins 4-1

The NBA Finals pits the winner of the Eastern Conference against the winner of the Western Conference. The teams play a best-of-seven series to determine the league’s champion. The winner of the series is awarded the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. The NBA Finals has a format of 2-2-1-1-1, although from 1985 to 2013 it had a 2-3-2 format.

A total of 19 franchises have won the NBA Finals, with the Lakers and Celtics holding the record for most titles with 17. Boston won a record eight consecutive championships from 1959-1966 beating the Lakers five times during that run. That matchup is the most frequent with the clubs meeting 12 times. The Lakers have appeared in the most NBA Finals with their 32 trips nine more than Boston. The Eastern Conference has 38 wins, while the Western Conference has 34 wins. The Celtics appeared in 21 previous NBA Finals boasting a winning percentage of .773.

Even though the format of the NBA Finals hasn't always been the same, the goal has remained. The two conference champions ultimately play against each other, and the first to win four games is crowned NBA champion. Amazingly, just eight of the series all-time dating back to 1949 have ended in sweeps, while 18 of the series have ended in seven games, most recently, the epic Game 7 between the Cavaliers and the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.

A few teams had spurts of greatness like the New York Knicks in the early 1970s reaching the Finals three times in four years with two titles. Detroit’s “Bad Boys” in the late 1980s reached the Finals three straight seasons winning two titles. And of course the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan in the 1990s with a pair of three peats. More recently the Golden State Warriors went to five Finals in a row and their 2022 title was their fourth in an eight-year span.

The Celtics and Lakers have combined to win 34 championships while the rest of the teams have combined to win just 38 titles. The biggest sin about the whole thing is how many franchises have never even sniffed the NBA Finals. There are now five teams who have never been to the NBA Finals (Timberwolves, Pelicans, Hornets, Grizzlies and Clippers) and five others who have been and have never won it (Pacers, Magic, Nets, Jazz and Suns). The Sacramento Kings won the NBA championship in 1951 as the Rochester Royals – a lot of good that does fans in Northern California – while the Seattle SuperSonics won their title in 1979 – Oklahoma City fans couldn't care less about that.

NBA Finals Winners (2000)

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