Basketball Betting: Home teams start off strong in NBA Playoffs

In the first eight games of the NBA playoffs, home teams rolled out to a 7-1 record while covering in six of the contests. The Portland Trail Blazers were the only road squad to steal away the home court edge on the opening weekend of the postseason. Eastern Conference All four of the top seeds in the East were able to win at home in their Game 1 quarterfinal series matchups. While all four of the top seeds won by nine points or more, the point spread outcomes for each contest were tight. Top-seed Cleveland narrowly covered over #8 Chicago in a 96-83 win as a 12-point favorite. Second-seed Orlando wasn't able to cover in a 98-89 victory over #7 Charlotte as a 10-point choice. The third-seeded Atlanta Hawks handled the sixth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks as an 8.5-point favorite in a 102-92 victory. Finally, fourth-seed Boston rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to defeat fifth-seed Miami by a final of 85-76 as a 4.5-point favorite. In the over/under outcomes, the contests in Cleveland and Boston went under the total while the games in Orlando and Atlanta produced overs. The Bobcats/Magic game barely finished over the closing total of 186.5. The Heat/Celtics series could very well be tied after Game 2. Western Conference The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers survived a grind it out affair against the Oklahoma City Thunder in its opening playoff contest. The top-seeded Lakers barely covered as a 7.5-point choice in an 87-79 victory. This matchup was the only one in the West to go under the total. The second-seeded Dallas Mavericks got by the seventh-seeded San Antonio Spurs as a 4-point favorite in a 100-94 victory. Like the Bobcats/Magic game, the Spurs/Mavericks battle slipped over the closing total (193.5) by just half a point. Third-seed Phoenix was upended by sixth-seed Portland by a final of 105-100. The Blazers were an 8-point underdog in the contest. In another close over/under outcome, the Blazers/Suns game barely went over the closing number of 204. In the four/five matchup in the West, the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets produced the highest scoring game of the weekend. The fourth-seeded Nuggets cruised to a 126-113 win over the fifth-seeded Jazz as a 6-point choice.