The Golden State Warriors finally put together their best performance of the 2015 NBA Finals in Game 4, justifying the line move in their favor after opening as 2.5-point favorites and closing as four-point road chalk in a 103-82 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Warriors covered the spread in the series for the first time since a 108-100 overtime victory in Game 1, and they are 8.5-point home favorites at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark for Game 5 Sunday.
Golden State went with a smaller lineup against Cleveland, and that move made by head coach Steve Kerr helped even the NBA Finals at 2-2 heading back to Oakland, where his team has won 47 of 51 games this season.
The Warriors are 8-2 straight up at Oracle Arena in the playoffs but just 4-6 against the spread according to the Odds Shark NBA Database, and they will be trying to cover the biggest number in the series so far as favorites for the fifth time in as many games.
Andre Iguodala replaced Andrew Bogut in the starting lineup for Golden State in Game 5, and he responded by tying NBA MVP Stephen Curry with a team-high 22 points while playing stellar defense on Cavs star LeBron James.
Iguodala and Curry combined to make 8-of-16 attempts from three-point range, with the former holding James to his lowest offensive output of the NBA Finals.
James totaled just 20 points on 7-of-22 shooting after averaging 41 through the first three games for Cleveland. Center Timofey Mozgov had a team-high 28 points for the Cavs, but he and power forward Tristan Thompson (12) were their only other players besides James to score more than 10 points.
Reserve sharpshooter J.R. Smith missed all eight of his three-point shots and made only 2-of-12 overall for his worst game of the series.
Cleveland shot just 33 percent from the field as a team in scoring its lowest point total of the postseason and saw the under cash for totals bettors for the third straight game in the NBA Finals.
In fact, the lone over of this Cavaliers vs. Warriors betting matchup happened in Game 1 and needed overtime to surpass the closing total of 203.5. The closing total for Game 4 was 195, which is the same number sportsbooks opened with for Game 5.