LeBron James has never lost a first round playoff series.
But don’t tell that to the flock of bettors that are lining up to bet their hard earned money on the Portland Trail Blazers to upset the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Playoffs.
Sportsbooks around the country are writing tickets hand over fist on the Blazers, who check in around 4-to-1 underdogs to win the series no matter where you shop.
“The public perceives these two teams moving in opposite directions,” Circa Sports sportsbook director Matt Metcalf told NBC Sports. “It feels like you’ve got one team trending upward and then nobody is looking to bet the Lakers right now. It’s surprising to see. We re-opened the Blazers at 100-to-1 [in the future book] and we had to drop to 75 to 40 and now 30. People have been betting them pretty hard.”[[ad:athena]]
This Portland push has been undoubtedly enthralling. They’re a fun and exciting team led by one of the league’s best players in Damian Lillard. They run and gun and fling long jumpers from all over the floor. But this is getting ridiculous. The Lakers were the best team in a loaded Western Conference and for some reason, that doesn’t seem to matter to many bettors.
One Vegas sportsbook reported a 7-to-1 ticket count on the Blazers.
“A lot of what’s driving this betting and the series price is that people like to bet against LeBron,” Metcalf said. “People want to root for Dame and root against LeBron. Everybody loves a live dog. They love betting 4-to-1 on something they’ve seen over the last few weeks. It feels like a good bet to them.”
I covered the Chicago Bulls as a reporter for six seasons. Optimism was always high heading into those playoff series against the LeBron-led Heat and Cavaliers. The Bulls even won a couple games here and there. At the end of the day though, LeBron always flipped the switch and ripped their hearts out. Chicago never beat LeBron in a best-of-seven series.
Naturally, I feel like I already know the ending to this movie.
One other point of concern is the obvious fatigue that the Blazers will deal with. They’ve exerted so much energy over the last two weeks just to lock in a playoff spot. Their superstars have played upwards of 40 minutes a night while the Lakers have been straight up chilling. Will Portland have anything left?
“The NBA has basically turned into an overall strategy of approaching the season in a holistic way,” Metcalf opined. “Some teams are just conserving energy to turn it on for the playoffs. The Lakers haven’t been motivated in these bubble games. Meanwhile, the Blazers have had to win every game and they’ve been giving their best effort. They’ve been fighting tooth and nail to get into the playoffs. Fatigue and mental exhaustion are certainly a concern.”
The Lakers are +250 to win the series in five games. +350 to win in six. I’ll take my chances.
