NBA Playoffs 2019 Odds: Betting Lines Released for Every Round 1 Series

Heading into the opening weekend of the NBA playoffs, odds for all eight first-round series have been released with no surprises. 

Per Caesars Palace, the top-seeded Golden State Warriors (-20000; bet $20,000 to win $100) and Milwaukee Bucks (-5000) have the best odds to advance:

The Boston Celtics (-600) have the lowest odds to advance among the Eastern Conference favorites. They are taking on an Indiana Pacers team (+450) that managed to win 48 games despite losing All-Star Victor Oladipo to a ruptured quadricep tendon in January. 

The Celtics were the NBA's biggest enigma during the regular season. Their point differential of 4.5 ranked third in the east, behind the Bucks' (+8.9) and Toronto Raptors' (+6.1), but they only sporadically looked like they belonged in the same category as those teams. 

The Western Conference was thrown for a loop over the final two days of the regular season.

Looking to erase the sting of last year's loss to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, the Houston Rockets landed in Golden State's side of the bracket thanks to a perfect sequence of events. They lost their final game to the Oklahoma City Thunder and saw the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers erase second-half deficits in their final games. 

The Rockets (-370) will open as a favorite against a difficult Utah Jazz team (+300), with the Warriors potentially awaiting the winner of that series in the second round. 

Taking on the No. 3 seed Portland Trail Blazers (+115), the Thunder (-135) are the only lower seed favored in the opening round. Portland has lost 10 straight playoff games dating back to Game 4 of the 2016 Western Conference semifinals.

Based on the odds, the two most evenly matched series are the Blazers vs. Thunder and Denver Nuggets (-230) vs. San Antonio Spurs (+190). The Spurs' biggest issue could come from not having home-court advantage.

Gregg Popovich's team tied for the second-best home record in the West during the regular season (32-9), but their 16 road wins are the second-fewest among all playoff teams (Detroit Pistons: 15-26). 

That said—and as has been proved countless times—what happens in the regular season doesn't matter when the playoffs begin.