If the oddsmakers are to be believed, we should have one half of the Western Conference semifinals set on Wednesday night with both the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors solid home favorites to finish their respective first-round series in five games. Always important to get a series over with as soon as possible to rest up and potentially avoid injury.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

In the first game, the Rockets are 8-point favorites over the Utah Jazz – Houston won the first two games of this series at home by 32 and 20 points, respectively. The Rockets were in position to finish off the Jazz in Game 4 on Monday night in Salt Lake City. A strong third quarter gave Houston a three-point lead entering the fourth. However, the Jazz started that quarter on a 15-1 run to take a lead they were never again in jeopardy of relinquishing.

Donovan Mitchell, who was one of the breakout stars of the 2018 playoffs as a rookie, had largely struggled in this series and did again for three quarters on Monday. The Jazz were outscored by 11 with him on the court. However, he had 19 fourth-quarter points (31 total) – outscoring the Rockets 19-12 by himself. Jae Crowder also played his best game of the series with 23 points, and Ricky Rubio had 18 points and 11 assists. Utah crushed the Rockets on the boards, 52-35, leading to a 17-3 edge in second-chance points.