NBA Playoffs Betting Odds
Thomas Snodgrass
Updated: Apr 18, 2024
As the 2023-24 NBA Playoffs tip-off, the Boston Celtics are the betting favorite to be the last team standing.
The Celtics (64-18) finished 14 games above the No. 2 seed New York Knicks for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Boston also finished with seven more wins than the two top clubs in the Western Conference, the defending-champion Denver Nuggets (57-25) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (57-25).
One team to watch is the Philadelphia 76ers.
At +700 to win the East, Philly has rolled into the playoffs winning eight of their final 10 games, and they could be the right team at the right time, and the right price.
The return of Joel Embiid has transformed the Sixers back into a contender, regardless of their No. 7 seed status.
NBA Playoffs – Contenders
Eastern Conference
Boston Celtics (-175 To Win The East, +180 To Win The Finals)
The Boston Celtics finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA at 64-18, sitting 14 games above the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics are led by their solid trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis.
Tatum enters the 2023-24 playoffs with the shortest odds to take home the NBA Finals MVP Award at +255.
Boston proved to have one of the best offense in the league, averaging 120.6 points per game (2nd-most in the NBA), and with 11.9 turnovers per game (the least in the NBA), their offense is well under control.
Philadelphia 76ers (+700 To Win The East, +1700 To Win The Finals)
The Philadelphia 76ers enter the playoffs as the No. 7 seed after defeating the Miami Heat in the first game of the Play-In Tournament.
Philly finished the regular season with an unspectacular record of 47-35, but they ended the season on an eight-game winning streak, and they are getting hot at the right time.
Reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid won’t be winning back-to-back MVP Awards after only playing 39 games due to injury, but his return to the hardwood makes the Sixers a completely different team.
Philadelphia picked up a steal on the defensive end on 7.5% of their defensive plays, the highest mark in the league, and they finished just behind the Celtics in turnovers per game (12.0). Limiting mistakes of their own and creating mistakes for their opponents is a key to their success.
Embiid’s health will be a key to success, too.
Western Conference
Denver Nuggets (+145 To Win The West, +300 To Win The Finals)
The defending NBA Champions remain largely the same from the previous year, being led by Nikola Jokic in the frontcourt, and Jamal Murray in the backcourt.
Denver’s bench may not be as deep as it was last year, with the offense depending more often on fellow starters Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., but they can still put teams away regularly.
The Nuggets’ defense was strong, allowing just 109.6 points per game (6th-best in NBA) and a 46.2% opponent field goal percentage (4th-best in NBA).
Ultimately, Denver’s difficult defensive focus led to the NBA’s highest percentage of games going under the total. The under occurred at a 57.3% in all of the Nuggets’ games (47-35 on the under).
Oklahoma City Thunder (+650 To Win The West, +1600 To Win The Finals)
Despite being the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, sportsbooks and bettors alike don’t seem to view the Oklahoma City Thunder as a legitimate threat in the West.
Oklahoma City finished the season with a record of 57-25 (only Boston was better), they scored an average of 120.1 points per game (3rd in NBA), shot 49.9% from the floor (2nd in NBA), and produced a 38.9% three-point shooting percentage (1st in NBA).
Being led by the young trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Josh Giddey, the Thunder are a threat to take it all.
The main weakness for OKC is their rebounding, with their 48.2% rebounding rate sitting 28th in the NBA.
If the Thunder can haul in more rebounds and create even more possessions, their explosive offense could take them all the way.
How The NBA Playoffs Work
Most of us know that the NBA is divided into Eastern and Western Conferences. An equal amount of teams from both conferences make the playoffs each year.
The Top 6 teams from the East and the Top 6 teams from the West automatically earn a playoff spot.
Teams ranked 7th – 10th in both conferences take part in what is called the play-in tournament.
Play-In Games
Each conference has a play-in tournament, which is game between teams who finished 7th – 10th during the regular season.
The teams ranked 7th and 8th need to win one game to advance. The teams ranked 9th and 10th need to win two games to advance.
Two of the four teams in the mini-tournament will advance to the regular playoff format and participate in a Best of 7 Round 1 playoff series.
NBA Playoff Series Format
After the mini-tournament to decide the final two playoff spots, each conference will have eight teams remaining.
Each team will face an opponent in a Round 1 – Best of 7 series, with the first team to win four games advancing to the next round.
This Best of 7 format is repeated until one team is left from each conference.
Those two remaining teams will then play each other in the NBA Finals, which is another Best of 7 series format.
Home Court Advantage In The NBA Playoffs
The home court is decided by seeding in the first three rounds of the NBA playoffs. The team with the better seed or rank gains a home-court advantage.
In the NBA Finals, the team with the better regular season win percentage is determined to have a home-court advantage.
The Boston Celtics finished with the best record league-wide this year.
If the Celtics come out of the Eastern Conference and makes the finals, they will have home court advantage over whichever team from the Western Conference they face.
How To Bet On The NBA Playoffs
With an 82-game regular season and 30 different teams, there are many opportunities to bet on the NBA.
Once the playoffs begin, hardwood fans have even more options to place a wager on a game, series or their favorite teams to win it all.
Much like the regular season action, bettors can wager on individual playoff games. The traditional types of bets, such as point spread, moneyline, and totals betting, are still the most popular way for fans to bet on playoff action.
Series Odds
Another popular form of NBA Playoff betting is to wager on a team to win a series.
| Series | Teams | Odds |
| Cleveland vs Orlando | Cleveland | -205 |
| Orlando | +164 | |
| Minnesota vs Phoenix | Minnesota | +114 |
| Phoenix | -140 | |
Our table above is an example of how to bet on a couple of different NBA Playoff series.
For this type of wager, a bettor must decide which team will be the first to win four games and move on to the next round.
This isn’t a one-game bet, and the team you wager on can lose up to three times and still earn you a profit if they can advance to the next round.
Futures Betting
You can do futures betting year-round, but many bettors prefer to wait until the playoff matchups have been decided.
The most popular NBA Playoff futures bet is who will win the Championship. However, several different futures betting opportunities exist, including picking the teams to win the Eastern and Western conferences.
NBA Playoffs – Futures Betting
| Teams | To Win Championship | To Win the Eastern Conference | To Win the Western Conference |
| Boston Celtics | +180 | -175 | N/A |
| Denver Nuggets | +300 | N/A | +145 |
| Los Angeles Clippers | +1400 | N/A | +650 |
| Milwaukee Bucks | +1600 | +750 | N/A |
Player Prop Betting In The NBA Playoffs
Although point spread betting is still the most popular form of NBA wagering, player props are becoming increasingly more popular.
While sports betting is only in its infancy across North America, basketball fans have been playing fantasy sports for a long time.
This fantasy sports knowledge translates nicely into player prop betting.
Bettors can focus on specific players instead of having to wager on teams and games they may not be as familiar with.
Some of the more popular types of player prop bets include:
- Total points
- Total assists
- Total rebounds
- Total 3-pointers made
- And more
NBA Playoff Game or Team Props
Sportsbooks will also offer a wide selection of game or team prop betting options for fans of NBA playoff action.
These game or team props are unrelated to player performance or the final score. Instead, they focus on specific events within a game, often referred to as a game, within game.
Some of the more popular available prop bets include:
- Predicting the exact score
- Team to score first
- Predicting the winning margin
- Team total points
- And more
NBA Prop Betting Strategies
With literally hundreds of different prop bets available for a single NBA playoff game, many bettors believe it’s easier to find an edge in the prop market, as opposed to trying to bet the point spread or total (over/under) for a specific game.
One of the most popular prop bets available for NBA bettors is Player To Score The First Basket.
As the name suggests, bettors must decide which player will score the game’s first field goal. A sportsbook will provide ten players to choose from (5 from each team), with odds typically ranging from +300 to +2000.
For those looking for an edge with this fast-paced wager, you can use the BestOdds.com first field goal resource page.
Understanding which team has the advantage with the opening tip-off helps a bettor with their overall strategy with this type of bet.
How BestOdds Edge Can Help
Sports betting has gone through a recent revolution lately because of the amount of data the world has access to.
There was a time when the fight between bettors and sportsbooks could hardly have been considered fair because sportsbooks had access to more data and the resources and deep pockets to spend on technology to help analyze it.
However, thanks to some forward-thinking companies, bettors now have access to all the same data and insights the operators do.
BetsOdds Edge is sports betting software designed for bettors and not sportsbooks.
This software does all the heavy lifting, gathering relevant data, analyzing stats and trends, and making player-prop betting projections.
Suppose a bettor is genuinely interested in competing with sportsbooks and being a long-term profitable player.
BestOdds Edge can be a valuable tool that will equal the playing field and help us make the most informed decisions possible.
Always Shop Around
As discussed above, today’s bettor has access to software and technology that allows us the same data and insights sportsbooks have when setting their odds for games and player props.
However, the single greatest edge a bettor has over the sportsbooks is our ability to shop around and find the Best Odds available.
NBA Championship Odds
| Team | DraftKings | FanDuel | BetMGM | bet365 |
| Boston Celtics | +150 | +145 | +180 | +160 |
| Denver Nuggets | +300 | +300 | +300 | +300 |
| Los Angeles Clippers | +1200 | +1500 | +1300 | +1200 |
| Milwaukee Bucks | +1600 | +1600 | +1400 | +1400 |
Looking at our table above, we get a quick example of why shopping around provides such an edge for bettors.
Imagine betting on the Los Angeles Clippers at +1200 when FanDuel has them available at +1500.
For a $100 bettor, that is an increase of $300 in profit, just with a single wager.
With all four teams listed above, there is a significant ROI advantage for anyone willing to shop around and find their Best Odds.
