With leading scorers Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves likely sidelined by injury, the Los Angeles Lakers are underdogs in their first-round playoff matchup versus the Houston Rockets.
Even though Los Angeles (53-29, No. 4 in Western Conference standings) earned home-court advantage versus Houston (52-30, No. 5) and won two of the three head-to-head meetings in the regular season, it’s the Rockets who enter as betting favorites.
And it’s not simply from Las Vegas. Of ESPN’s 12 NBA experts, 11 are predicting the Rockets to advance out of the first round — and only two of the 11 even have the series going to a decisive Game 7. The other nine Houston voters have the best-of-seven series ending in five or six games.
ESPN’s complete list of voter predictions for the first round, including picks for every other confirmed series and the play-in tournament, is available here.
Game 1, Game 2, Game 5, and Game 7 of the series are slated to be played in Los Angeles, while Game 3, Game 4, and Game 6 are in Houston. All contests from Game 5 onward are if necessary.
Game 1 will be played Saturday, April 18, in Los Angeles, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Central. With All-Star forwards Kevin Durant and LeBron James as clear headliners, the game will be televised and streamed to a national audience via ABC.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: ESPN playoff predictions: 11 of 12 voters pick Rockets to beat Lakers
Reporting by Ben DuBose, Rockets Wire / Rockets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
