In the upcoming playoff series, 11 out of 12 ESPN experts predict the Houston Rockets will defeat the Los Angeles Lakers, despite the Lakers having home-court advantage. The Lakers are underdogs due to injuries to key players Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
With leading scorers Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves likely sidelined by injury, the Los Angeles Lakers are underdogs in their first-round playoff matchup versus the Houston Rockets.
Even though Los Angeles (53-29, No. 4 in Western Conference standings) earned home-court advantage versus Houston (52-30, No. 5) and won two of the three head-to-head meetings in the regular season, itās the Rockets who enter as betting favorites.
And itās not simply from Las Vegas. Of ESPNās 12 NBA experts, 11 are predicting the Rockets to advance out of the first round ā and only two of the 11 even have the series going to a decisive Game 7. The other nine Houston voters have the best-of-seven series ending in five or six games.
ESPNās complete list of voter predictions for the first round, including picks for every other confirmed series and the play-in tournament, is available here.
Game 1, Game 2, Game 5, and Game 7 of the series are slated to be played in Los Angeles, while Game 3, Game 4, and Game 6 are in Houston. All contests from Game 5 onward are if necessary.
Game 1 will be played Saturday, April 18, in Los Angeles, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Central. With All-Star forwards Kevin Durant and LeBron James as clear headliners, the game will be televised and streamed to a national audience via ABC.
More: Rockets (52-30) finish season with win, draw Lakers as playoff opponent
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: ESPN playoff predictions: 11 of 12 voters pick Rockets to beat Lakers
The Lakers are underdogs primarily because key players Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are likely sidelined by injury.
11 out of 12 ESPN experts predict the Rockets will win the series, with most expecting it to end in five or six games.
The Lakers won two out of three head-to-head meetings against the Rockets during the regular season.
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