Warriors Remain WCF Favorites Due to Paul’s Injury Uncertainty

The Highlights

• The Rockets pulled out another thriller in the Western Conference Finals to take a 3-2 series lead over Golden State.
• Chris Paul's uncertain status following a late-game injury adds another wrinkle to the series' betting market.
• At the time of writing, the Warriors are, in fact, series favorites despite trailing.

The basketball gods giveth; the basketball gods taketh away. After winning a gutsy, inspired Game 4 at Oracle Arena, the Rockets did the impossible and won a second straight from the Warriors to take a 3-2 series lead. They have home-court advantage for Game 7 thanks to their stellar 65-win season. According to whowins.com, NBA teams with home court leading 3-2 have historically gone 174-15 (92.1%) in the series. So the Rockets should be favored in the WCF at this point, right?

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Unfortunately for Rockets ticket-holders, no. Thanks to a fluke injury in the final minute to Chris Paul, the series is very much up for grabs.

Books posted series odds after the game, with the Warriors at -120 to win the series. They were quickly bet up to -134 at the time of this writing (12:45 a.m. ET). Game 6 opened at Warriors -10.5 with an over/under of 213. There has been no news on CP3's status, but the betting market is certainly adjusting as if it's going to play a major role this weekend.