Will one of the crucial two vacancies within the NBA Finals be filled on Friday night? Covers talks concerning the big matchup with Jeff Stoneback, manager of the sportsbook on the Mirage, and an oddsmaker for online site BetNow.Cleveland Cavaliers at Toronto Raptors – Open: Cavaliers -6.5; Move: Cavaliers -6, then back to -6.5

There’s only been one close game within the Eastern Conference finals so far, and Wednesday’s Game 5 stayed true to that form. Cleveland thumped Toronto 116-78 as an 11-point favorite to take a 3-2 series lead into Friday’s 8:30 p.m. Eastern tipoff at Toronto.

The Cavs will attempt to punch their ticket back to the NBA Finals, while the Raptors will see in the event that they can keep the home-court luck rolling to force a Game 7.

“We opened at Cavs -6.5. Then we took a $30,000 bet at the Raptors, which took the road all the way down to 6,” Stoneback said. “It’s 2-1 in tickets written at the Cavaliers. Everyone else is at 6.5. We’ll probably finally end up there.”

Indeed, The Mirage went back as much as 6.5 late this morning Pacific time. Stoneback said the moneyline has seen some back-and-forth shifting as well, again as a result of a large Toronto ticket.

“We’d opened it at Cavs -280, then took a $20,000 bet at the Raptors at +240, which dropped the Cavs right down to -260 at the moneyline,” Stoneback said. “But we got some a refund on Cleveland, and we’re back at -280.”

In fact, the moneyline number ticked a bit further upward to -300.

Meanwhile, over at BetNow, the road opened at 6 but ultimately needed to shift upward, identical to everywhere else.

“We did see some considerable (early) action are available for the Raptors,” BetNow’s oddsmaker said. “We were anticipating for it to transport as we got in the direction of game time. We're seeing numerous action for the Cavaliers, and so one can definitely push the line, perhaps as much as two points.”

The total opened at 196.5, with BetNow moving to 197.5 after seeing bettors plow into the high side.

“The large majority of our bettors are laying their money at the over for this game,” the oddsmaker said. “This series have been fluctuating at the over and under, and we always see that our players love to pick the over.”

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

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