Rockets’ NBA Odds Dropping with Every Win
Of all the NBA betting markets available to UK punters at the moment, the one that looks most like a sure thing (on paper) is that the winner of the 2018 NBA Championship will come out of the Western Conference. The current odds for any winner from the Western Conference are 3/10, with around 5/2 touted for a team from the East.
You can see the reasoning behind the bookmakers’ odds-setting, as the two teams with the best records in the NBA are sitting loftily atop the Western Conference. The most curious thing to note of course, is that the Rockets (60-14) lead the Warriors (54-19) and not the other way around. You see, on October 16th on the eve of the 2017/18 season opener, the Rockets were priced around 16/1 to win the NBA Championship. The Warriors were given odds of 5/12, an incredibly short price despite their claims of being one of great teams of the modern era.
Houston don’t look like slowing down as season reaches a climax
Of course, once the season got going Houston began to win and win. Bookmakers are sometimes slow to sense a changing of the guard however, and they were indeed slow to start chopping Houston’s odds and raising the Warriors. But it seems the last couple of weeks, where the Rockets have gone 9-1 and the Warriors 5-5, that they have finally acted.
The current best-price from major UK bookmakers for the Rockets is 15/8 with William Hill, whereas the Warriors have now been made odds-against with a best price of 6/5 (Ladbrokes). That represents quite the change from the beginning of the season, with heavy backers for the Warriors cursing their luck no doubt at the bigger odds available now.
So it is clear that bookmakers have finally begun to rate the Rockets’ chances of winning a first NBA Championship in 23 years, but will punters be putting too much faith in backing either of those sides at such short odds? It should not be forgotten that the Rockets and Warriors cannot meet in the NBA Final, so the door is open for one of the Eastern Conference sides.
Eastern Conference sides could offer value to punters
The Cavaliers (10/1), Raptors (12/1) and the Celtics (20/1) all look like contenders to go deep into the playoffs, with any of the trio perhaps being worth an each-way bet. Moreover, if you are concerned it is going to be a Rockets or Warriors’ season, you could check out these free bet no deposit offers from major bookmakers to make your selection a shot to nothing.
In terms of the outside bets, there has been some evidence (from Oddschecker) of punters backing Oklahoma City Thunder at 30/1. There is also some temptation to look at the Portland Trailblazers, with odds of up to 60/1 looking very generous for a team that will surely make the playoffs.
In the end though, the way the season is panning out it looks like the narrative is going to be decided by either the Warriors or Rockets. The former will need to get rid of some of that complacency in order to retain the Championship, whereas the latter needs to just keep going in the same manner. But don’t be too surprised if there is a huge upset over the coming months.
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