Lakers' NBA Finals Odds Fall After Rockets Force Game 6; L.A. Still Favored in Series

Are the Los Angeles Lakers in trouble in their first-round series with the Houston Rockets?

After taking a 3-0 series lead, Los Angeles has dropped back-to-back games to force a Game 6 in Houston on Friday night. The Lakers remain favored to win the series at -330 at DraftKings Sportsbook, but their odds to win the NBA Finals took a major hit after losing Game 5 at home.

Los Angeles entered Game 5 as a 4.5-point favorite with Austin Reaves (oblique) returning to action, and it has risen to +2500 to win the NBA Finals after opening the playoffs as low as +15000. Los Angeles wasn't given much of a chance before this series because Reaves and Luka Doncic were injured, but a Kevin Durant injury for Houston opened the door for the Lakers to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

However, after losing Game 5, the Lakers dropped to +2800 to win the Finals, good for the seventh-best odds in the league. Los Angeles remains behind Western Conference teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder (-125), San Antonio Spurs (+500) and Denver Nuggets (+2200), even though Denver trails the Minnesota Timberwolves 3-2 heading into Thursday night's Game 6.

Los Angeles is set as a 4.5-point road underdog in Game 6 in Houston, a sign that oddsmakers expect this series to come down to a Game 7 in Los Angeles. No team in NBA history has ever completed a comeback from a 3-0 series deficit, but the Lakers appear to be in danger of allowing that to this Houston team.

With both Doncic and Durant out of the lineup -- and potentially out for the series -- the Lakers should be favored at home in a potential Game 7.

Houston opened as a -650 favorite to win this series, so the fact that the Lakers have flipped things so quickly in their favor is extremely impressive. Still, there were some cracks in Games 4 an 5 for L.A. on the offensive end, and Reaves (4-for-16 from the field in Game 5) looked a little rusty even though he ended up with 22 points off the bench.

The Lakers are a risky team to back in the NBA Finals market, even if they end up beating Houston in this series. If the Lakers win, they'll take on the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company swept the Phoenix Suns.

Since Doncic's status for that series is still up in the air, the Lakers will almost certainly be major underdogs, making any bet for them to advance beyond Round 2 a major risk at this point in the postseason.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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