Spurs favored to win NBA title

The San Antonio Spurs are a slight favorite to dethrone the Miami Heat as NBA champions, according to oddsmakers Bovada.LV.

The Spurs were given 4/5 odds to win the title while the Heat are set at 21/20.

The Heat beat the Spurs in seven games in last year’s finals and were preseason favorites to win again. Miami opened the season as 2-1 favorites while San Antonio had 12-1 odds, eighth best in the NBA.

Entering last year’s finals, the Heat were heavy favorite with 5/12 odds, while San Antonio was at 2/1. They are the first pair of teams to face each other in consecutive NBA Finals since the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz in 1997 and 1998.

While Miami is 12-3 in the playoffs, San Antonio has ousted the Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder in the tougher Western Conference.

The Spurs won an NBA-high 62 games in the regular season and received the West’s No. 1 seed. The Heat were the No. 2 seed in the East after going 54-28 in the regular season.

After using a 2-3-2 home-away schedule for 29 years, this year’s finals are changing to a 2-2-1-1-1 format.

The best-of-seven series starts Thursday in San Antonio.