As the Golden State Warriors approach Game 1 of this NBA Finals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, they are faced with the same problem they had in the last four games of their best-of-seven against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference, in that without Andre Iguodala, who is still going to be sidelined with that lateral bone bruise in his leg. And it is worthwhile to examine how this might affect the outcome of the series opener, which is scheduled for 9:05 PM ET at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. You also must remember that if you are a BetAnySports customer, you can place wagers even after the game tips off, as you can access the state-of-the-art software from Live Betting Ultra.

Iguodala sometimes starts for the Warriors, and sometimes doesn't. In past years, it has been his value coming off the bench that has provided a tremendous boost. And in fact, it was from that spot where he won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award three years ago. A former All-Star, Iguodala is valuable enough to this team that head coach Steve Kerr was moved to say, after Game 7 against Houston, that "We would have won the series in five if Iggy played."

So why does make so much of a difference, and how can Cleveland respond to that? Well, it has to be pointed out that Iguodala had been employed as a member of the starting lineup in many of the Warriors' playoff games – in fact, yet started in the dozen straight contests before going down with his injury. This was for purposes of putting that smaller lineup out on the floor, which is alternately known as the "Death Lineup" or the "Hamptons 5." Because of Iguodala's defensive ability and the versatility of Draymond Green, they could present matchup nightmares for any team, and a degree of quickness opponents find difficult to deal with.

In the NBA Finals betting odds posted on Game 1 by the good folks at BetAnySports, the defending champs are the big favorites:

Golden State Warriors -13
Cleveland Cavaliers +13

Over 214.5 points -110
Under 214.5 points -110

As far as the series price is concerned, the Warriors are -1050, while the Cavs are +675.

Let's give you an example – in a situation where Iguodala gets the start, Cleveland would find it very difficult to counter that with anything bigger than Kevin Love starting at center, and that's assuming Love will make post, as we acknowledge that he is coming out of the NBA's concussion protocol. Love does not do his team any favors on the defensive end, but he is probably handicapped less if he only has to guard a guy like Kevon Looney, who has been starting in the pivot. There are other big men for Golden State who can be more effective in spurts, including JaVale McGee and David West, but the Warriors have less of a chance of running the Cavaliers off the floor when Iguodala isn't out there. Don't forget that they lost two straight games to the Rockets without him, and then went down by margins of 17 and 15 points in the next two games, before coming back. So there's nothing necessarily invincible about Golden State when he's not being deployed.

The Cavs have a street fighter like Tristan Thompson they can use as well, and there is a scenario by which they can try to play more of an inside-outside game against the Warriors, who are not the strongest rebounding team in the world. This is a little more possible when the "Dubs" don't have Iggy available. Of course, for the Cavs to succeed well enough to actually WIN in that kind of situation, they would have to be able to defend the perimeter, and if you recall, they had to remove Love at time last year because he just didn't match up with anybody. But that was when they had Kyrie Irving, who is now long gone.

If there yet another scenario where the Cavs can be better, at least for a game, without Love? Yes there is. They could have a rim-protector at all times with Thompson or Larry Nance, and then go small elsewhere, which would include Jeff Green, who had 19 points in the Game 7 victory over Houston, and a couple of three-point shooters who could keep this team very much in this game if they get hot. The Warriors should win this series, but they are overvalued here. So we're grabbing the points.

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