Higher Seeds Favored In Every NBA Playoffs First Round Matchup

• The Milwaukee Bucks are favored -6500 to beat the Orlando Magic in Round 1.
• Miami Heat have -320 odds to beat the Indiana Pacers.
• Houston Rockets are favored to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder at -180.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The NBA playoffs matchups have been set and with the matchups announced, sports bettors have been flooding online sportsbooks to get in on the action.

Heavy action is being taken on the higher-seeded teams, like the Orlando Magic having longshot odds to beat the Milwaukee Bucks.

With the playoffs around the corner, sports bettors will have plenty of legal NBA betting lines to wager on.

1 And 8 Seeds

While the western 8th seed slot was determined in a play-in game on Saturday, the rest of the field was already set. The Portland Trailblazers were able to prove their playoff mindset with a win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Still, the East has the Bucks playing the Magic with sports bettors taking heavy action on Milwaukee.

The Bucks have been the pillar of good basketball all season, breaking many records for their play throughout. It is understandable why sports bettors are taking the Bucks to make easy work of the struggling Orlando Magic.

2 And 7 Seeds

In the West, the Los Angeles Clippers are battling the Dallas Mavericks while in the East, the defending NBA Champion Toronto Raptors will host the Brooklyn Nets.

Both the Mavericks and the Nets are young teams that have shown examples of putting out major offensive games that could steal a few wins.

However, with the NBA playoffs being a seven-game series format, it makes sense that sports bettors are picking teams with veteran and championship pedigree.

The Toronto Raptors are a constant playoff team who just won an NBA final last season, while the Clippers may not have ever won a championship before, they have the reigning finals MVP in Kawhi Leonard on their team.

3 And 6 Seeds

In the West, the Denver Nuggets will face off against the Utah Jazz while in the West the Boston Celtics will battle it out with the depleted Philadelphia 76ers.

The closest of the 3 and 6 seed matchups would have to be the Jazz and Nuggets. While sports bettors are picking the Nuggets, the Jazz has historically done well in the playoffs while being the underdog.

Just two seasons ago a rookie Donavan Mitchel helped the Jazz beat the OKC Thunder, with Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and Carmelo Anthony on the roster, in six games.

With that being said, it is still understandable for the Nuggets to be favored as the young team has been consistently good all season

In the East, however, it is very unlikely for the 76ers to beat Boston. Philly will have to play without Ben Simmons, who is out with a knee injury.

Even fully healthy the Sixers struggled this season. Boston has been solid all year, especially when facing the 76ers.

4 And 5 Seeds

The closest matchups in the playoffs will see the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder face off in the west and the Miami Heat go against the Indiana Pacers in the East.

The Rockets and Thunder series is an interesting one, not just because Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook were traded for one another at the end of last season, but also due to Westbrooks injury that will see him miss a few games.

With Russ out, this puts a lot of pressure of James Harden who has been known to break down in the playoffs.

Of all the underdog betting lines in the playoffs, this is the most attractive at legal sports betting sites.

The Heat and Pacers matchup is also interesting. Although Miami is favored, TJ Warren of the Pacers has been scorching since the NBA returned. Add this to his long-standing beef with Heat’s Jimmy Butler and we are in for a competitive series.

The NBA Playoffs will begin Monday, bringing plenty of betting lines with it.

News tags: Boston Celtics | Brooklyn Nets | Dallas Mavericks | Denver Nuggets | Houston Rockets | Indiana Pacers | Los Angeles Clippers | Miami Heat | Milwaukee Bucks | Oklahoma City Thunder | Orlando Magic | Philadelphia 76ers | Toronto Raptors | Utah Jazz