Favorites Dominating Playoffs
- Most opening NBA games were one-sided, with higher seeds winning five of seven early matchups. (usatoday.com) - Through the Thunder–Suns game, higher seeds were a combined 6-1 and average margin of victory was 17.4 points. (usatoday.com) - Oddly, markets still list favorites in seven of eight first-round series, so the early pattern looks more control‑than‑chaos. (nytimes.com)
The opening weekend of the National Basketball Association playoffs looked less like upset season and more like a seed line taking hold. Higher seeds won seven of the first eight Game 1s, and every home team except Detroit opened with a victory. (nba.com, usatoday.com) Through Oklahoma City’s win over Phoenix on Sunday, April 19, higher seeds were 6-1 with an average margin of victory of 17.4 points, according to USA Today’s opening-weekend roundup. By the end of the first eight games, the only lower seed to steal Game 1 was No. 8 Orlando against No. 1 Detroit. (usatoday.com, nba.com) The official bracket shows Cleveland, New York, Boston, Oklahoma City, Denver, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers all up 1-0, with Orlando joining them after its road win. That left seven series following the expected script after one game, even before the second wave of adjustments that usually tightens a matchup. (nba.com, cbssports.com) Betting markets have not treated the early blowouts as a fluke. The Athletic reported Monday, April 20, that the better seed was still favored in seven of the eight first-round series, with Houston against the injury-hit Lakers as the lone exception. (nytimes.com, sports.yahoo.com) That split between scores and prices helps explain the weekend: oddsmakers still see the field as top-heavy, not chaotic. Fox Sports listed Cleveland at -800 against Orlando, Boston at -2000 against Philadelphia and Oklahoma City at -10000 against Phoenix as of April 20. (foxsports.com, nytimes.com) The one real break from the pattern came in the East, where Orlando put Detroit in an immediate hole despite entering as the No. 8 seed. The Athletic said Detroit still remained the series favorite after that loss, a reminder that one road result does not fully rewrite a best-of-seven matchup. (nba.com, nytimes.com) Home court has been part of the story too. Vegas Insider’s first-round betting page had home teams 7-1 straight up after the first set of games, almost identical to the seeding split because every higher seed opened at home. (vegasinsider.com, nba.com) The schedule now moves to Game 2s beginning Monday, April 20, with the bracket still tilted toward the teams that earned home court over 82 games. If the first weekend was a warning shot, the next few nights will show whether this round has any real volatility beyond Orlando’s early punch. (nba.com, nba.com)
