The Los Angeles Lakers fell into an early 1-0 hole against the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the NBA Playoffs and quickly made sure to right the ship in Game 2. While the game was much closer than the final score indicated, it was LeBron James and Anthony Davis who put the game on ice.
That is why the Lakers were viewed as such a terrible matchup for the Suns. Phoenix has been a great story in the NBA this season but the Lakers have the two best players in this series.
It was still expected to be a close series… until Chris Paul got hurt. Paul has been dealing with a shoulder injury and he clearly is not himself. While he is toughing it out and playing, he is not playing to his standards and was limited in the second half of Game 2.
Despite being a 1-1 series, this is enough to make the Los Angeles Lakers heavy betting favorites over the Phoenix Suns.
WynnBET has odds for the rest of every first-round playoff series and at one game a piece the Los Angeles Lakers are massively favored. The Lakers are -348 favorites to win this series against the Suns while Phoenix is a +210 underdog.
For those unfamiliar with gambling, this is unprecedented. A seventh-seed being that heavily favored over a second seed despite the series being tied never happens. Part of the reason is because the Lakers are perhaps the most talented seventh seed in NBA history with the other part being the Chris Paul injury.
Bettors can take it a step further than just betting on the Lakers as well and bet on how many games it will take the Lakers to win the series. A 4-1 series win has +185 odds, 4-2 has +160 odds and 4-3 has +375 odds.
So while the Lakers are favored, bettors can get plus odds if they can correctly pick how long the series goes. Personally, I would bet that this game is only going to go five games. CP3 being hurt is a massive deal and this is already such a bad matchup for Phoenix.
As we have seen before, Frank Vogel figures teams out and starts to dissect them as the series goes along. Even if Paul can get back to 90% of himself, by then, the Lakers will be able to stop everything the Suns do on offense while attacking their defensive sets.
But hey, I won’t complain if the Los Angeles Lakers win in six or seven games. Let’s just hope they win.