NBA Basketball

2026-04-18 - Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Houston Rockets @ Los Angeles Lakers
United States : NBA Basketball Playoffs First Round Game 1
Saturday 18th April 2026 - Scheduled 8:30pm EST
1:30am (British Time)

Preview

If the NBA Playoffs begun at the beginning of April, the Los Angeles Lakers would have been a trendy pick to come out of the Western Conference.

The blowout loss alone to the Oklahoma City Thunder would not have changed the narrative, but losing both Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic to significant injuries changes the entire outlook of this team. Both players are struggling to make it back for any potential Second Round Series and the Lakers are set as the underdog in the First Round, despite finishing with the higher Seed.

LeBron James is still here and he has inspired the Lakers to three wins in a row that have secured home court in the First Round Series.

However, the veteran has plenty of experience and will fully understand the kind of challenge that awaits the Los Angeles Lakers in this Series with the Houston Rockets, even if the Number 5 Seed have not lived up to the expectations of pre-season.

Bringing in Kevin Durant was supposed to take Houston to the next level, but this is another veteran NBA Champion whose best days are behind him and that leaves the Rockets short. They allowed some very important players to leave to bring in Durant, which was costly for the Phoenix Suns when they were developing into a team that were expecting to challenge at the very top of the Western Conference, and Houston are going to find it tough beyond the First Round.

In the First Round Series, the Rockets are right to be set as favourites and they are looking to continue the recent trend of big road favourites being able to win and cover when set as such in the First Round of the Playoffs.

The Rockets were firing at the end of the season and will have confidence even if they lost three of the four regular season games against the Los Angeles Lakers, including both played last month. Those were played with both Reaves and Doncic in the lineup, but this Lakers team is not nearly as efficient without them and LeBron James is 41 years old and it is asking a lot of him to carry those around him.

Houston cannot afford to take anything for granted in this Series and they are going to be looking for the opening split of the first two games of the road. Taking away home court as soon as possible is the ambition for this team and it just feels like the Houston Rockets have been peaking at a good time at the end of the regular season.

Respect has to be given to this Lakers team that have won three in a row and twice as the underdog, but this is a considerably tougher test.

There will be pressure on the Lakers Defensively when it comes to dealing with Kevin Durant and the match up he has on the court and this is another of those games where it feels like the home team can be opposed, even if Game 1s of recent NBA First Round Series have heavily leaned in the favour of the hosts.

Road favourites of more than 4.5 points have a very strong 40-21-1 record against the spread in the First Round of the Playoffs, and that can balance out home advantage with the Houston Rockets looking like the stronger team and with enough late season momentum to do enough to snatch home court away from the Los Angeles Lakers at the first opportunity.