The Los Angeles Lakers, despite being seen as a co-favorite for the NBA Championship heading into the season by several sportsbooks, have smashed through their preseason expectations. At 41-12, they have a four-game lead over No. 2-seeded Denver for the top-seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers have 29 games remaining, with their first game coming on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies. According to one sportsbook, the line to bet on the Lakers win-total has moved quite a bit since the early season.
The folks at BetOnline now have the Lakers with a win-total over-under set at 61.5, up from 50.5 in the preseason. The Lakers would have to go 21-8 the rest of the way to reach that mark, which doesn’t seem out of the question at all. However, the Milwaukee Bucks are still the favorites to get homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs as BetOnline as their over-under set at a monstrous 67.5 wins. Milwaukee is currently 46-8.
As far as the rest of the Western Conference playoff picture, the No. 2 seed is going to be a very interesting race. The Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers are co-favorites for the No. 2 seed, with their updated over-under set at 55.5 wins apiece. Utah (52.5) and Houston (52.5) aren’t that far behind.
And as far as the Lakers’ potential opponent in the first round, the win-totals see a three-way race between Portland (38.5), Memphis (38.5) and New Orleans (37.5), with San Antonio (35.5) lagging far behind.
