{"id":261474,"date":"2026-04-22T18:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/261474\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T18:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:03:11","slug":"houston-opens-as-massive-favorite-despite-2-0-deficit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/261474\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Opens as Massive Favorite Despite 2-0 Deficit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have completely flipped the odds in their first-round series with the Houston Rockets, going from +500 underdogs to -135 favorites after winning Games 1 and 2 at home.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have not played for L.A. \u2013 and may not play in the first round \u2013 yet the Lakers have held Houston under 100 points in back-to-back games. The Rockets, who came into the series as -650 favorites, lost Game 2 even with Kevin Durant (knee) back in the lineup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">So, how do oddsmakers view this series going in Houston?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">Game 3 could be an uphill battle for the Lakers on the road, as Houston was one of the best home teams in the NBA (30-11) in the regular season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">As a result, Los Angeles is a 9.5-point road underdog in this matchup with Durant expected to play while Doncic (likely out for the whole first round) and Reaves are likely going to be sidelined.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Lakers vs. Rockets Odds, Spread and Total<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/4kJjtBu\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">Spread<\/p>\n<p>Lakers +9.5 (-110)Rockets -9.5 (-110)<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\">Moneyline<\/p>\n<p>Lakers: +310Rockets: -395<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"83\">Total<\/p>\n<p>205.5 (Over -112\/Under -108)<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"89\">The Lakers have gotten a ton out of their role players, especially Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart, who have both shot the ball well to get this team out to a 2-0 series lead.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8c\">James has turned back the clock with his all-around play in this series, and Los Angeles moved up from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/betting\/lakers-nba-finals-odds-skyrocket-after-second-straight-upset-win-over-rockets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">+7500 to +3500 to win the NBA Finals<\/a> after Game 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8f\">Houston has been awful on the offensive end in this series, but it\u2019s possible that could turn at home. Durant\u2019s presence gives the Rockets a little more offensive firepower, even though they scored just 94 points in Game 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8i\">For betting purposes, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:<\/p>\n<p>Houston was an NBA-worst 17-24 against the spread at home in the regular season, including a 16-22 record ATS when favored.\u00a0Los Angeles was just 9-10 against the spread as a road underdog, posting an averaging scoring margin of -6.8 in those games.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8o\">The SI Betting team will have picks, props and more for this game on Friday, but for now it\u2019s interesting to see the betting market heavily favoring the Rockets to crawl back into this series in Game 3. \u00a0 <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-20\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8t\">Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-21\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8w\">If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-22\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8z\">Claim the latest\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/betting\/sportsbook-promos\/draftkings-promo-code\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and get\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/4kJjtBu\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\">$300 in bonus bets instantly when you make your first $5 bet<\/a>\u00a0and that bet wins.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have completely flipped the odds in their first-round series with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-261474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}