NBA odds: Four playoff games, four favorites cover on a ridiculous 20-1 day for chalk across all sports

The first day of the long-awaited NBA playoffs was entertaining. Nobody would argue that.

The Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz had a fantastic opener, with Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell trading great shots in a Nuggets overtime win. The Brooklyn Nets at least fought back to make the second half competitive against the Toronto Raptors. The Philadelphia 76ers were in it until the Boston Celtics pulled away, and Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic put on a show but the Los Angeles Clippers won anyway.

That’s a great day of basketball, but a nightmare for underdog bettors. All four favorites won and covered, which might signal a trend in the NBA’s first round. It was the kind of day for favorites across all major sports that you might never see again.

Favorites go 20-1 across MLB, NBA and NHL

Favorites are supposed to win. That’s why they’re favored. But 20 of 21?

If you blindly bet all favorites — or “chalk” in the betting jargon — then you won at a 95.2 percent clip on Monday. The favorites in the NBA went 4-0 against the spread. All four moneyline favorites won in the NHL. And after the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs as a +155 underdog in the first game of a doubleheader in the first MLB game of the day, 12 straight baseball favorites won.

Favorites went 12-2 in Major League Baseball on Sunday, bringing the two day total to 24-3. If you like betting underdogs, it has been a rough couple days.

Things should even out, because they always do in sports betting, but there’s reason to believe the NBA’s first round could lean heavily toward the favorites.

Will NBA see any competitive first-round series?

It’s not like none of the NBA underdogs had a shot to cover. The Nuggets needed overtime and the 76ers and Mavericks were a play away at the end from getting the money. It was close. Dallas might have covered had it not been for a bad ejection to Kristaps Porzingis that led BetMGM to refund all Porzingis prop bets.

But the theme going into the first round was that all eight series featured heavy favorites and that held to form Monday. The favorite in every first-round matchup was at least -278 to win the series except the the Houston Rockets, who came down to -152 due to Russell Westbrook’s quad injury that will keep him out of Game 1 at least. The series prices were overwhelming and four favorites covered on Day 1. The games were entertaining, but will we get any drama in a long series? Here are today’s NBA games with the lines at BetMGM:

Milwaukee Bucks (-12.5) vs. Orlando Magic
Miami Heat (-4.5) vs. Indiana Pacers
Oklahoma City Thunder (-1.5) vs. Houston Rockets
Los Angeles Lakers (-6.5) vs. Portland Trail Blazers

We’ll see if Tuesday’s action goes a little differently. If you lean on favorites in your betting, you already have some house money for the rest of the week.

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