{"id":716138,"date":"2026-04-22T21:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716138\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T21:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:00:20","slug":"lakers-series-nba-title-odds-skyrocketing-after-surprise-2-0-start-vs-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716138\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers&#8217; series, NBA title odds skyrocketing after surprise 2-0 start vs. Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting-editorial-standards\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<p>Things are looking rosy in Laker Land.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Without two of their star players, the purple and gold are somehow two games up on the Rockets in their first-round series.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Oddsmakers have quickly taken notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Coming into the series, the Lakers were a +550 long shot to upset the Rockets with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves sidelined for an undisclosed amount of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite playing on their home floor, LA was roughly a 5-point underdog in each of the first two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers proved Vegas wrong with back-to-back wins on the back of LeBron James and Co. to take a commanding 2-0 lead into Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Their <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting\/nba-betting-sites\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA<\/a> title odds have shifted immensely in just a few days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After beginning the playoffs as a 150\/1 long shot at <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting\/draftkings-promo-code\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>, the Lakers are all the way down to 35\/1 to win it all heading into Wednesday\u2019s action.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With Reaves seeing the court soon and Doncic hopeful to return shortly thereafter, the Lakers are also being given a decent shot at winning the Western Conference, sitting at 25\/1 to pull it off.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39165747\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/user-expressly-acknowledges-agrees-downloading-126142376.jpg\" alt=\"LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers looking up during a game.\" class=\"wp-image-39165747\"  \/>LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the game against the Houston Rockets on April 21, 2026 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Although it\u2019s a far cry from where they were before the series, oddsmakers still aren\u2019t so sure the Lakers have this series in the bag.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Up 2-0, the Lakers are only -135 (DraftKings) to win the series, suggesting that the Rockets may not be completely done being heard from yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Vegas likes the Rockets\u2019 chances of getting one back on their home floor in Game 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Betting on the NBA? <\/p>\n<p>Houston is currently a 9.5-point favorite ahead of Friday\u2019s game in the Space City, although that number could shift if Reaves can return to the lineup by tip-off.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Whichever team wins this series will almost assuredly see the reigning champion Thunder, who are a heavy -120 favorite to win the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy for the second straight season.<\/p>\n<p>Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n<p>Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He\u2019s particularly knowledgeable about the big three \u2014 MLB, the NFL and the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,212,292,194,4066,150,6,214,211,66,215,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-716138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-rockets","12":"tag-houstonrockets","13":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-betting","16":"tag-rockets","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-betting","19":"tag-sports-picks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116450376903922852","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}