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Thanks to the Los Angeles Lakers’ struggles in the bubble, there is no clear favorite to win the NBA championship entering the playoffs, for a change.
Some sportsbooks have the Milwaukee Bucks as a team to beat, while other bookies still have the Lakers as their favorites, and in Las Vegas, the LA Clippers can be found at the top of the league odds.
This is the first time that there hasn’t been a clearly defined title favorite heading into the playoffs since 2015, the start of the Golden State Warriors’ run. The Warriors were the overwhelming favorites in each of the last five playoffs with odds never exceeding +175.
This season, however, the odds of the frontrunner – be it the Lakers, Bucks or Clippers – are around +250 on average.
“We took the Lakers to 3-1 [to win the title], which is the highest we’ve been in a while, and we made the Clippers the favorites at 11-4, ”Jeff Sherman, vice president of risk at SuperBook in Westgate Las Vegas, told ESPN.
At one point, before the league suspended play due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Lakers seemed to be standing out from the Bucks and Clippers. But LeBron James & Co. hasn’t been impressive since the restart, going 3-5 in Florida.
Some of the Lakers’ performances can be attributed to their situation: They were locked in the No.1 seed in the Western Conference – and No.2 overall – at the start of the recovery, and Coach Frank Vogel experimented with different formations in the games that made less sense.
However, the Lakers ended the standings with the second-worst net efficiency rating.
“It affected their rating and perception as people are mesmerized by Portland in this series,” Sherman said, noting that the SuperBook took six bets on the Trail Blazers for each one they received on the Lakers. during the first of the teams. – Round playoff series, featuring a bet of $ 5,000 and $ 1,000 on Portland at odds of 4-1.
The Trail Blazers have also been a popular bet to upset the Lakers on PointsBet sports betting, who said they took “strong actions”, raising Portland’s odds in the first round series from +450 to +375.
The Lakers’ title chances have fallen behind the Bucks and Clippers at PointsBet. Communications director Patrick Eichner said the Lakers’ performance in the bubble, in addition to their difficult run in the Western Conference, had lengthened their chances.
The Lakers have historically attracted more bets and more money to win than any other team on multiple sportsbooks, and Caesars Sportsbook has ranked them as a 2-1 favorite, due to strong early betting support. But Caesars bookmakers have acknowledged that the Lakers are likely to be the Bucks and Clippers underdogs in potential postseason clashes.
While the Lakers have taken a step back in the eyes of punters, the Clippers have recovered. Sherman says he thinks the Clippers would be favored over the Bucks or Lakers in a playoff series.
“As [the Clippers] progress and get a healthy squad, they have – on both sides of the court, offense and defense – the most complete squad, so from a power point of view we rated them the highest, ”said Sherman.
The Clippers are -650 favorites over the Dallas Mavericks in their first-round series, which begins Monday.
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