NBA Title Odds Now Favor 76ers, Nuggets with Celtics on Brink of Elimination

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The 2023 NBA Championship odds received a massive shakeup last night when the Eastern Conference No. 3 seed Philadelphia 76ers handed the No. 2 Boston Celtics a massive upset on their home court.

The Sixers pulled off a stunning 115-103 win as eight-point road underdogs, taking a 3-2 lead in the process and putting last year’s Eastern Conference champs on the brink of elimination.

The result sent the previously-favored Celtics tumbling down the NBA title odds, while the Sixers are now co-favorites alongside Western Conference No. 1 Denver. The table below shows the updated NBA title odds at FanDuel Sportsbook as of 11 a.m. ET, May 10.

2023 NBA Championship Odds

Co-favorite Denver currently holds a 3-2 lead on No. 4 Phoenix. Western Conference No. 7 Los Angeles has No. 6 Golden State on the ropes, holding a 3-1 series lead in the best of seven, while the No. 8 Miami Heat have the No. 5 New York Knicks in the same position. Both the Lakers and Heat have a chance to close out their respective series tonight, though both are road underdogs.

The Heat are aiming to become the first No. 8 seed to win multiple playoff rounds since the 1999 New York Knicks, and just the second ever.

Boston Heavily Favored … Until Last Night

The Celtics’ title odds had grown as short as +156 heading into Game 5 on Tuesday night. At that stage, the second-favorite (Los Angeles) was a distant +450. Put another way, Boston had an implied win probability of 39.1 percent, while no other team was higher than 18.2. The Celtics were considered more than twice as likely to win the 2023 NBA championship than any of the other seven remaining teams.

But 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid dropped 33 points in Game 5, spearheading a dominant win. Philadelphia never trailed after the five-minute mark of the 1st quarter and held a 16-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. A lack of depth continues to be an issue for the C’s: Jayson Tatum (36) and Jaylen Brown (24) accounted for over 58 percent of Boston’s points, while only one other player (Marcus Smart, 14) scored in double figures.

The Sixers went from +900 longshots to win their first title since 1983, all the way to +290 co-favorites at FanDuel.

Though it should be noted that the oddsmakers at DraftKings have a different outlook, listing the Nuggets (+300) as outright favorites, with the Lakers and Sixers tied for second at +340.

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LeBron and AD Have the Lakers Rolling

In the Western Conference, the Lakers have taken a commanding 3-1 series lead on the reigning-champion Warriors after dispatching the No. 2 Memphis Grizzlies in six games in the first round. Los Angeles’ depth was considered a massive liability heading into the year, and it was certainly holding the team back during a lethargic 2-10 start to the season. But that hasn’t been the case in the playoffs. The Lakers are getting valuable contributions from D’Angelo Russell (15.4 PPG), Austin Reaves (14.7), and Rui Hachimura (12.1) in the postseason, easing the burden on LeBron James (22.6) and Anthony Davis (21.4).

Davis’ ability to dominate the glass has arguably been the biggest difference-maker in Los Angeles’ run. The Lakers are averaging the most rebounds per game of any team during the 2023 playoffs and have the second-best Adjusted Rebound Chance % of all remaining teams.

That said, the team they trail in that category is the Denver Nuggets, and the Nuggets will have home-court advantage in the Western Conference finals if they are able to close out the Suns. Denver went 34-7 at home during the regular season and is a perfect 6-0 so far in the playoffs (5-1 against the spread).

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