It’s time for the NBA to hit its extra gear in the playoffs. The 16-team field is set following the Play-In Tournament, which featured several close games.

There aren’t a lot of upsets expected in the first round, but the No. 5 seed Houston Rockets are in position to beat the No. 4 Los Angeles Lakers in the first round with Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves both injured.

This is a look at the odds for all eight first-round series in the NBA playoffs. It will be updated daily throughout the playoffs, as the odds to win each series will shift with results.

Eastern Conference playoffs1. Detroit Pistons vs. 8. Orlando Magic

Game 1: 6:30 p.m. ET, Sunday

Series odds: Pistons -500, Magic +380

The Pistons made the jump from 44 wins last season to 60 this season. Cade Cunningham and company got a taste of the playoffs with a 4-2 series loss in the first round at the hands of the New York Knicks. Now come expectations — which are still relatively modest.

The Pistons are only fourth in the odds to win the Eastern Conference despite holding the top seed. Part of Detroit’s outlook is related to concerns about Cunningham’s health. Just as the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft was emerging as an MVP candidate, he missed 12 games late in the regular season because of a collapsed lung.

Cunningham returned for the final three games, but didn’t play 30 minutes in any of them, and his scoring average in those games (11.3) was less than half his season average (23.9). Detroit is heavily favored to win this series, but eyes will be on how sharp Cunningham looks.

2. Boston Celtics vs. 7. Philadelphia 76ers

Game 1: 1 p.m. ET, Sunday

Series odds: Celtics -900, 76ers +600

Boston has emerged as the favorite to win the Eastern Conference, which is a wild change from entering the season tagged with “throwaway year,” while Jayson Tatum recovered from his Achilles injury suffered in last year’s playoffs. The Celtics started the year 5-7, and it appeared Boston would be headed to the lottery, but Jaylen Brown carried the Celtics to a strong regular-season finish, which prompted the return of Tatum.

Boston was 41-21 when Tatum made his season debut on March 6. The Celtics are 13-3 in Tatum’s 16 games. Most of his numbers are down, but Tatum is still averaging 21.8 points, 10 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 32.6 minutes per game. He may not be the Tatum who was an MVP candidate, but he’s still very good, and Brown is playing near an MVP level.

Meanwhile, it’s unknown when Joel Embiid will return from appendicitis. He had surgery on April 9 and hasn’t come back yet. The 76ers advanced out of the Play-In Tournament without him, and Tyrese Maxey is the team’s leading scorer, but Philadelphia still needs Embiid’s huge presence to pull off this upset.

3. New York Knicks vs. 6. Atlanta Hawks

Game 1: 6 p.m. ET, Saturday

Series odds: Knicks -275, Hawks +220

Last year, the Knicks went on a wild ride in the playoffs. New York beat rival (and defending champion) Boston in an upset to make the conference finals for the first time in 25 years and then endured a series of crazy finishes before falling to Indiana. After all that, the Knicks fired coach Tom Thibodeau. Will first-year coach Mike Brown be able to replicate or surpass that playoff success?

The Knicks are solidly favored to get past Atlanta in the first round, but are only third in the odds to win the Eastern Conference. With 53 wins, this is New York’s best regular season in 13 years, but it wasn’t quite a step into the NBA’s elite.

Atlanta is back in the playoffs for the first time in three years, this time without Trae Young, who had led the previous era of the Hawks. Jalen Johnson is the team’s leading scorer, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker and CJ McCollum are also key figures. It’s not exactly a star-studded cast, especially because Zaccharie Risacher, the first pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, didn’t take much of a step forward this season, averaging 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

4. Cleveland Cavaliers vs. 5. Toronto Raptors

Game 1: 1 p.m. ET, Saturday

Series odds: Cavaliers -550, Raptors +400

Cleveland was the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last year and has since added James Harden to its core. Due to injuries, we haven’t seen Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen on the floor with Harden often, so it’s hard to tell what to make of this team, but the odds heavily favor Cleveland in the first round against Toronto.

The Raptors are a perfect encapsulation of the modern NBA. Toronto’s top three scorers (Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes) are all listed between 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-8 and average between 18 and 22 points, five and eight rebounds and three and six assists per game. Ingram scores a little more, and Barnes is a better defender, but they are similar players. In the current NBA, everyone is a long-limbed wing.

Toronto won all three regular-season meetings, but those all occurred before December, months before the Cavs reworked their roster to add Harden.

Western Conference playoffs1. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. 8. Phoenix Suns

Game 1: 3:30 p.m. ET, Sunday

Series odds: Thunder -3000, Suns +1300

The defending champion Thunder once again had the best record in the regular season (64-18), and the first round is not expected to be a stumbling block. The Thunder have swept the first round in the last two playoffs, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the same happen this year.

Oklahoma City enters the playoffs as the favorite to win the NBA title, although the rise of the Spurs and Tatum’s return from injury for Boston has made the contending field stronger than it appeared months ago. Still, OKC is even money to win it all again on FanDuel and is near even money on DraftKings (+110) and BetMGM (+120).

2. San Antonio Spurs vs. 7. Portland Trail Blazers

Game 1: 9 p.m. ET, Sunday

Series odds: Spurs -2000, Trail Blazers +1000

The Spurs are in the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and haven’t won a playoff series since 2017. That’s when Pau Gasol, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard were still suiting up for the Spurs. There have been some lean years in between, but Victor Wembanyama has ushered in what could be another memorable era in San Antonio. The Spurs are a huge favorite in this series and are second in the betting odds to win the NBA title.

Portland is also ending a playoff drought. The Trail Blazers haven’t made the postseason in five years, and last won a playoff series in 2019, when Damian Lillard went full Dame Time and took Portland to the conference finals.

This one isn’t expected to go long, with the over/under for total games at 5.5, and the under is well-favored at -235 on DraftKings.

3. Denver Nuggets vs. 6. Minnesota Timberwolves

Game 1: 3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday

Series odds: Nuggets -350, Timberwolves +280

This is the third time in four years that Denver and Minnesota meet in the playoffs. Denver won 4-1 in the first round in 2023 en route to the franchise’s first NBA title. Minnesota won a memorable seven-game series in the second round the year after.

Denver has retooled its supporting cast, but it’s still Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon leading the way. Jokić averaged a triple-double in the regular season and led the league in rebounds and assists, a first in NBA history. So yeah, Denver is a contender to win it all again, entering the playoffs fourth in the betting odds to win another title.

While the Nuggets closed the regular season on a 12-game winning streak to finish 54-28, Minnesota (49-33) had a much rockier finish. The Timberwolves went 9-10 in their last 19 and are 22-19 since mid-January. Can Anthony Edwards prove to be a tough out for Denver again, or will the Nuggets start another championship push?

4. Los Angeles Lakers vs. 5. Houston Rockets

Game 1: 8:30 p.m. ET, Saturday

Series odds: Rockets -575, Lakers +400

At full strength, Lakers vs. Rockets would make for a banger of a first-round series. Luka Dončić and LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant and Alperen Şengün. However, Luka is hurt, and so is LA’s second-leading scorer in Austin Reaves. LeBron will have to turn back the clock and be a dominant force until those two come back (if they can come back this series).

The injuries are why Houston is the clear favorite to advance. It would be the Rockets’ first series win since the bubble in 2020.

The Rockets won nine of their last 10 in the regular season. LA had won 16 of 18 before Luka got hurt and managed to close the regular season 3-2 after his injury.