Denver Nuggets vs Los Angeles Lakers NBA Playoffs Betting Preview

With the Los Angeles Lakers securing the No. 7 in the NBA’s Western Conference playoff bracket earlier this week with a play-in win over the New Orleans Pelicans in the Bayou, their first round series against the No. 2 seeded and defending champion-Denver Nuggets begins in earnest on Saturday night. We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know about the series before it gets going.

Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA 1st Round First Round Playoff Series Betting Odds

All odds provided by Betway.

When to Watch and How to Watch Nuggets vs. Lakers

The series will be airing on TNT or ABC. Game 1 and Game 4 will be broadcast on ABC, while TNT will air Games 2, 3, and 7, with Game 5 and Game 6 still to be determined. For viewers in Canada, the games will all be airing on Sportsnet. Here’s the full schedule for the series. Italics denote games that will take place if necessary. All times E.T.

• Game 1 at Denver - Saturday, April 20 @ 8:30PM (ABC)
• Game 2 at Denver - Monday,  April 22 @ 10:00PM (TNT)
• Game 3 at Los Angeles - Thursday, April 25 @ 10:00PM (TNT)
• Game 4 at Los Angeles - Saturday, April 27 @ 8:30PM (ABC)
• Game 5 at Denver - Monday, April 29 @ TBD (TBD)
• Game 6 at Los Angeles - Thursday, May 2 @ TBD (TBD)
• Game 7 at Denver - Saturday, May 4 @ TBD (TNT)

Nuggets vs. Lakers Series Winner Betting Odds

While one would think that a block artist and perennial NBA All-Defensive Team member like Anthony Davis would be the perfect guy to put the clamps on Denver’s talisman, Nikola Jokic, who is all but guaranteed his third NBA MVP award in the last four years, that’s not been the case.

Jokic has averaged 29.3 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 9.0 assists against Davis as the Nuggets swept the season series 3-0. Let’s not even talk about what he did to the Brow in last year’s Western Conference sweep, when the Big Cevapi had three triple-doubles in four games.

If Davis can’t stop Jokic, the Lakers are going to struggle to win this series. Not to mention that Aaron Gordon has the size and athleticism to be one of the few players that can slow LeBron James going downhill. DeAngelo Russell, who was a hero of the Lakers’ play-in win, is also one of the worst backcourt defenders in the NBA, which is bad news when going against Jamal Murray, who always plays his best ball in May and June.

If you can get some sort of free bet on the Nuggets to win this series, go to town, but otherwise, the odds are too prohibitive to make a play on. There are much more attractive futures options, which we will discuss below.

Nuggets vs. Lakers Series Total Number Of Games Betting Odds

One of the best things about NBA playoff basketball is all the futures props that are offered for each series. The length of the series is an interesting one here. The Lakers haven’t won a game against Denver since December 2022, which is seven straight games and about 17 months for those counting.

It’s very surprising to see a clean sweep coming in with the longest odds. Do oddsmakers really believe this one will go seven games? Not even LeBron probably believes that. We would recommend swiping those juicy +400 NBA betting odds for a sweep, though it wouldn’t be surprising if the King was able to will his team to one win, so a five-game series at +200 odds is another solid option.

Nuggets vs. Lakers Series Handicap Betting Odds

Another interesting prop that you can only get when betting on playoff basketball, this is basically the same as a point spread bet, only for the final score of the series. Denver’s underdog options have comically short odds, and we’re not betting on the Lakers to do anything more than win one game in this series, so the decision is really between Nuggets -1.5 at -167 odds or Nuggets -2.5 at +125 odds.

The odds for Denver to win by 2+ games in this series are a little bit short, but they are a virtual lock, which means they are actually offering pretty good value as long as they stay below -175. However, we’re feeling pretty strong about Denver losing no more than one game here, so we might as well get those + odds on the Nuggets’ -2.5 prop.