“They don’t need to lay the number with the favorite, but then again, they don’t wish to take the underdog on account of how bad the Raptors looked in Game 1.”

USA Today Images

Will LeBron James & Co. continue steamrolling their method to the NBA Finals? Covers talks about Thursday’s Eastern Conference semifinal game with Jason Simbal, vice chairman of risk management for CG Technology, Jay Rood, vp of race and sports for MGM Resorts, and an oddsmaker for online site BetNow.

Toronto Raptors at Cleveland Cavaliers – Open: Cavaliers -12; Move: none

This best-of-7 series features the #1. and No. 2 seeds within the East, but you wouldn’t have known it from watching Game 1 on Tuesday night. The Cavs boatraced the Raptors 115-84 as a healthy 11-point home favorite, keeping their perfect playoff record intact at 9-0 SU (6-3 ATS). Cleveland is favored by much more for the 8:30 p.m. Eastern Game 2 tipoff, and bettors appear to be laying back.

“There really hasn’t been much yet. Individuals are really not excited for this game since the spread is so high,” Simbal said. “They don’t wish to lay the number with the favorite, but then again, they don’t need to take the underdog on account of how bad the Raptors looked in Game 1.”

BetNow’s number was also stable at Cleveland -12.

“The Cavs are still the majority’s pick, but within the previous few hours, we saw more action are available for the Raptors. But not a lot,” BetNow’s oddsmaker said earlier today.

At The Mirage, Cleveland opened at 12.5 and was bet all the way down to 12.

“We’ve had just a little at the Raptors,” Rood said. “I think the sharps, if they’re gonna do anything, they’ll take the Raptors.”

BetNow was also seeing money at the total, which opened at 196 but is now at 198.5.

“We are seeing very heavy action coming in for the over,” the oddsmaker said. “We are currently at 81 percent of the handle at the total being at the over. It’s been high because the total was posted, but today, it sort of feels to be keeping that way. This amount of action will certainly push the entire up.”

Patrick Everson is a Las Vegas-based senior writer for Covers. Follow him on Twitter: @Covers Vegas.

Read More... [Source: Covers.com: NBA News and Stories]