Anything can happen in the NBA Playoffs. What seems like a clear picture of the contenders in a conference — and the NBA championship odds — can completely change one month into the postseason.
Case in point: the Eastern Conference, where the odds and best bets on BetMGM have changed dramatically in just a handful of weeks. The onus is on bettors to stay on top of the NBA odds and identify value within the fluid Eastern Conference Finals futures board.
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Updated Finals odds | Western Conference Finals odds
Remember when the 76ers were favored to beat the Knicks and the Bucks were projected to advance past the Pacers? New York opened the playoffs with +1200 odds to win the East and +4000 odds to win the NBA Finals! Indy was +2500 for the Eastern Conference Finals and +10000 to win it all!
Now New York and Indiana are battling for the right to face Boston with a conference chip on the line, after the Knicks knocked out Philly and the Pacers dismissed Milwaukee. That's right — lower seeds eliminated two of the top three favorites to represent the East when NBA championship odds first opened at the start of the postseason.
Let's take a look at BetMGM's latest NBA championship odds, specifically diving into the Eastern Conference Finals odds, best bets, and top values.
Eastern Conference playoff odds: Predictions, picks to reach NBA Finals 2024
| Team | Odds |
| Celtics | -1000 |
| Knicks | +700 |
| Pacers | +2500 |
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Eastern Conference Finals winner: Best bet
Boston Celtics (-1000)
The Celtics have been the best bet to come out of the East all season, so hopefully you haven't waited until now to pull the trigger on these juiced-up odds.
Ranked in the top three in offensive and defensive rating the entire campaign, Boston just gentleman-swept the Heat despite a relatively poor series from team MVP Jayson Tatum.
The Celtics went a collective 9-4 this season against the Knicks, Pacers, and Cavaliers, the three teams behind Boston on this board. The Celts also went 37-4 at TD Garden, so home-court advantage throughout the playoffs will be huge for them.
Only 19 other teams in modern NBA history have gone 37-4 or better at home. Of those, 14 made it to the conference title game that year and 11 won conference championships. With the East as banged up as we've ever seen it in May, it sure feels like the path to the championship is lined with green.
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Eastern Conference Finals winner: Top value bet
Indiana Pacers (+2500)
At the onset of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, the Knicks served as Sporting News' best value bet to win the East (+1200) and also the most intriguing of all teams on the NBA championship odds (+4000). Now New York has shortened drastically, and the Pacers have emerged as the best (and only) value on the board.
Indiana just keeps managing to shock the NBA universe. Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner, and company blitzed the East in the Play-In Tournament, got even better with the Pascal Siakam acquisition, finished the season as the top scoring team in the Association, and now sits two series wins away from the Finals.
Even if it's a modest bet, the Pacers seem like a squad worth putting something on. They battled the Celtics well during the regular season, winning two of five head-to-head matches (the Cavs and Knicks only managed one win over Boston this season). With that in mind, Indy also makes for a fine ECF hedge.
NBA playoff bracket 2024
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