(Preakness Betting Odds pick – Rachel Alexandra is a massive favorite, and you’ll find out why on Saturday)

Okay, so Thursday’s NBA picks didn’t go as planned. Apparently both teams were waiting to get back home. Here is who is going to win on Sunday.

Rockets vs Lakers odds – Sunday, May 17, 3:30 PM ET

NBA odds have the Lakers as a 12.5-point favorite after a terrible performance in a 95-80 loss in Houston, and outside of Kobe Bryant, no one on the Lakers showed any emotion. The Rockets did well to even take this series to seven, but they’ll be in trouble in Los Angeles, where they were blown out by 40 in Game 5. (Basketball betting pick: Los Angeles to cover)

Magic vs Celtics odds – Sunday, May 17, 8:00 PM ET

The Magic are a 2.5-point underdog on the road after a heroic performance from Dwight Howard carried them to an 83-75 win in Game 6, as D-12 racked up 23 points and 22 boards after asking for more touches. The Celtics looked exhausted by the end of Game 6, and Ray Allen needs to snap out of his shooting slumber, but as usual, Paul Pierce will be the one hitting the clutch shots.  (Basketball betting pick: Boston to cover)

Preakness betting odds are out for this weekend’s big race, and a couple of proven thoroughbreds will advance to the conference finals in the NBA tonight. NBA odds has one Finalist from last year as an underdog on the road, while the other is favored away from home.

Celtics vs Magic odds (Magic -7) : 7:00 PM ET

After blowing a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter….IN BOSTON, no less….the Magic are done. This series should realistically be over by now, but the Magic don’t know how to put teams away yet, and Dwight Howard was right when he said that Orlando’s offense did the wrong thing and went away from him. They could get away with that against Philadelphia, but against the defending champions? Nope. Let’s see how Stan Van Gundy messes this up tonight. (Basketball betting pick: Boston)

Lakers vs Rockets odds (Lakers -9) : 9:30 PM ET

Now that’s the Lakers we know so well. After losing to a Yao-less Houston team in Game 4, you knew the Lakers would be fired up on their homecourt, and it turned into a Game 5 nightmare for the Rockets as they lost (putting it mildly) by 40 points. This game won’t be a rout, but if Andrew Bynum plays the way he did in Game 5, it’s a wrap for the Rockets. (Basketball betting pick: Lakers to win straight up, but not cover)

First off, two things: the NBA needs to step their security game up. Kenyon Martin’s mom was gettin’ heckled in Dallas, and I ask you, what kinda person goes at a dude’s mom? Mark Cuban is a punk. Second, fans SHOULD NOT have better seats than players. If they didn’t, “Big Baby” wouldn’t have knocked over the stupid kid. And if he was an Orlando player who made a game-winning shot, his father wouldn’t have said a word.

Now, on to some NBA odds:

Orlando at Boston (8:00 PM ET)
The Celtics should have won Game 4 by more, but their bench was terrible. It’s a good thing the Orlando guards were just as bad, as Rafer Alston and J.J. Redick combined to shoot 1-of-14, including 1-of-11 from three-point land. The Celtics are gaining steam, and unless Dwight Howard puts up 40 and 20, the Magic will be staring down the barrel of a 3-2 deficit. NBA odds favor Boston by two points. (Basketball betting pick: Boston)

Houston vs Los Angeles (10:30 PM ET)
The Lakers WILL NOT come out flat like they did in Game 4′s loss, especially Kobe Bryant, who will go into “Black Mamba” mode. The Rockets pulled out a great win in Houston without Yao Ming, but can Aaron Brooks have another 34-point game at the Staples Center? We don’t think so. NBA odds favor the Lakers by a whopping 12 points. (Basketball betting pick: Los Angeles)

Houston’s NBA odds aren’t any better after their Game 2 loss to the Lakers on Wednesday night, but the best part of it all wasn’t even the confrontation between Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant, or even the tangle between Derek Fisher and Luis Scola, but it was Artest’s post-game interview.

Oh man, so classic. Dude’s talkin’ about people gettin’ stabbed in the chest with table legs. We (old-school sportsbook players) all know the NBA isn’t the game we grew up watching, the one with the “Bad Boys” and the heated Bulls-Knicks/Bulls-Pistons rivalries, but apparently they weren’t nothing compared to what Artest saw in Queensbridge, New York.

I was thinking that there should be some sort of NBA odds on how many, or how long, it would take for Bryant and Artest to get into it. Both are hard-nosed competitors, and Bryant DID elbow Artest in the throat. He shouldn’t have been ejected from the game, even Bryant said so himself, because I think Kobe likes the challenge as proven by his 40-point explosion. They didn’t even make it out of Los Angeles. The NBA odds for another Bryant/Artest square-off? EXCELLENT.

Everyone who is planning to go against the Los Angeles Lakers’ NBA odds because of their 100-92 Game 1 loss at home to Houston: stop, have a beverage, and relax. Everything is fine with the Lake Show.

The Lakers hadn’t played since April 27th, when they wrapped up their five-game series with Utah in the first round. On top of that, Kobe Bryant couldn’t practice prior to the game because of a flu and laryngitis, and it took him 31 shots to get his 32 points. The Lakers were also a terrible 2-of-18 from beyond the arc, and they’re a pretty good three-point shooting team in general. They also struggled from the foul line, going 12-of-19, and Lamar Odom was the biggest culprit, missing five of his six chances from the charity stripe. Any team with good NBA odds are usually good from the foul line, and the Lakers are a good free-throw shooting team, so they should bounce back.

NBA odds still have the Lakers as the favorites to win this series, although the Rockets’ win changed the sportsbook line just a little bit. Expect to see a completely different Lakers team tonight when the two meet for Game 2.