{"id":1920069,"date":"2026-05-06T04:31:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1920069"},"modified":"2026-05-06T04:31:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:31:35","slug":"2026-nba-playoffs-second-round-odds-thunder-are-now-minus-odds-title-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1920069","title":{"rendered":"2026 NBA playoffs second-round odds: Thunder are now minus-odds title favorites"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been favored to win the NBA title all season, but as contenders struggle or get eliminated, it\u2019s starting to look less and less likely someone will take them down.<\/p>\n

The Thunder have had no trouble this postseason and are now favored against the field. OKC has minus odds (-170) to win the NBA title.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On Wednesday, the New York Knicks try to keep their recent dominance going against the Philadelphia 76ers and the San Antonio Spurs try to get even with the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

\n

This story will be updated throughout the second round as the odds change with the results for every game.<\/p>\n

Eastern Conference<\/h2>\n

No. 1 Detroit Pistons vs. No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers<\/h3>\n

Pistons lead series 1-0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 2:<\/strong> 7 p.m. ET, Thursday<\/p>\n

Series odds:<\/strong> Pistons -210, Cavaliers +175<\/p>\n

The Pistons labored in the first round and realistically should be eliminated. They trailed by 24 in the second half on the road while facing elimination. Yet, here they are, and they are taking advantage of this second life.<\/p>\n

Detroit raced out to a 16-point lead after a quarter and withstood a late Cleveland charge to take Game 1 111-101. Suddenly, the Pistons look like a No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n

James Harden was 1-for-7 from the 3-point line and Donovan Mitchell is complaining about only drawing two free throws, but at least his sneakers<\/a> look very cool.<\/p>\n

Cade Cunningham didn\u2019t have to do everything for Detroit, scoring 23 points on an off shooting night (6-for-19). A more balanced Pistons performance resulted in a win.<\/p>\n

Detroit was favored by barely better than a coin flip at the start of the series. Now, there\u2019s some breathing room in the odds, but it\u2019s still tight.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

No. 3 New York Knicks vs. No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers<\/h3>\n

Knicks lead series 1-0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 2:<\/strong> 7 p.m. ET, Wednesday<\/p>\n

Series odds:<\/strong> Knicks -450, 76ers +350<\/p>\n

Are the Knicks just world-beaters now? New York followed up the 51-point win against Atlanta that closed out that series with a 39-point win against Philadelphia to open this one.<\/p>\n

The Knicks couldn\u2019t miss. They shot 63 percent from the field and 51 percent (19-for-37) from 3-point range. New York had 74 points by halftime. Jalen Brunson had 35 points in 31 minutes.<\/p>\n

There are many ways to say the Knicks were good on Monday.<\/p>\n

Joel Embiid, meanwhile, was just 3-for-11 from the field, and Tyrese Maxey had just 13 points.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This series probably won\u2019t go this way the whole way through, but the Knicks haven\u2019t had a competitive game in a week and a half.<\/p>\n

Western Conference<\/h2>\n

No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. No. 4 Los Angeles Lakers<\/h3>\n

Thunder lead series 1-0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 2:<\/strong> 9:30 p.m. ET, Thursday<\/p>\n

Series odds:<\/strong> Thunder -3000, Lakers +1200<\/p>\n

The Thunder are almost boring at this point. The Lakers raced out to a 7-0 lead in Game 1 on Tuesday, but then Oklahoma City closed the first quarter on a 9-2 run to take a five-point lead and never trailed again. By the end, OKC won by 18.<\/p>\n

While every other team in the playoffs has trailed in a series, Oklahoma City hasn\u2019t lost a game yet.<\/p>\n

LeBron James was LeBron James (27 points on 12-for-17 shooting), but he didn\u2019t get much help. Austin Reaves was 3-for-16 from the field and Marcus Smart was 4-for-15. The Lakers need Luka Don\u010di\u0107 back, and fast.<\/p>\n

The Thunder comfortably won and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an off night (18 points and seven turnovers). Scary.<\/p>\n

With the Celtics and Nuggets out and the Spurs down a game, the Thunder are minus odds favorites to repeat (-170) after Tuesday\u2019s games.<\/p>\n

No. 2 San Antonio Spurs vs. No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves<\/h3>\n

Timberwolves lead series 1-0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 2:<\/strong> 9:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday<\/p>\n

Series odds:<\/strong> Spurs -1200, Timberwolves +160<\/p>\n

Several hours before Game 1 started, the Spurs were heavily favored to advance and a Western Conference final with Oklahoma City seemed nearly inevitable. Then, Anthony Edwards decided to suit up and come back from injury. Now, Minnesota has a 1-0 series lead.<\/p>\n

The Spurs are still favored to win the series after dropping Game 1 at home 104-102, but the odds moved from -1200 to -190. Minnesota was 7-to-1 advance and is now +160.<\/p>\n

Edwards scored 18 points in 25 minutes, so there should be more to come as his minutes load increases. The Timberwolves were without Ayo Dosunmu, who sat out Game 6 against Denver with a calf injury.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

It\u2019s not a great sign for the Spurs that they lost at home while Minnesota had a minutes restriction on Edwards. Plus, Dosunmu could return at some point in this series. That said, while Victor Wembanyama had 12 blocks, he was 0-for-8 from 3-point range. He and De\u2019Aaron Fox both had off shooting nights, and Julian Champagnie<\/span><\/span><\/a> still had a really good open look at a 3-pointer to win the game at the buzzer.<\/p>\n

A sweep seemed possible going into the series. Now, it looks like this could be a good one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been favored to win the NBA title all season, but as contenders struggle or get eliminated, it\u2019s starting to look less and less likely someone will take them down. The Thunder have had no trouble this postseason and are now favored against the field. OKC has minus odds (-170) to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1920069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1920069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1920069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1920069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1920069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}