Second season starts Saturday in the Association

Finally, the field is set and the matchups are decided; it's second-season time in the NBA. The adventure begins Saturday with four first-round series openers, including the one-vs.-eight series in the Eastern Conference in which the Chicago Bulls, the surprising top overall seed in these playoffs, host the happy-just-to-be-here Indiana Pacers (1 pm Eastern, ESPN).

Also Saturday the Miami Heat, the two seed in the East, host the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers (3:30 Eastern, ABC); the Orlando Magic host the Atlanta Hawks in the four-vs.-five series in the East (7 pm Eastern, ESPN); and in the three-vs.-six series in the Western Conference the Dallas Mavericks host the Portland Trail Blazers (9:30 Eastern, ESPN).

The Bulls were expected to compete for the Central Division title this season, but that was supposed to be about it. Nobody outside of Chicago thought the Bulls would end up with the best record in the league. That's what they did, though, ending the season on a 28-4 run and overtaking Boston and Miami in the standings. So Chicago enters the playoffs as even-money favorites at oddsmaker.ag to win the Eastern Conference, and as co-second favorites, along with San Antonio, to win the NBA championship at +200.

Indiana, meanwhile, got into the playoffs in the East by going 37-45. And they didn't exactly finish on a high note, losing their last two games and going 13-15 after the All-Star break.

Chicago took the season series from the Pacers three games to one. The totals split 2-2 in those four games, which averaged 188 points, excluding an overtime period the teams played in Indiana's lone victory.

Miami ended the season on a 15-3 run to take the two seed from Boston. Philly, meanwhile, finished on a 1-5 slide to fall to the seven spot. The Heat swept the season series from the Sixers three games to none, winning those games by an average score of 102-92.

Miami is getting +150 to win the East at oddsmaker.ag, and +400 to win the league championship, while Philly is getting +6,000 and +12,000 on those boards.

Orlando is 16-9 since the All-Star break, although they've basically known they'd be the four seed for a while. Atlanta enters the playoffs on a six-game losing streak, although they've basically known what their fate was for a while too.

The Magic gave the Hawks a royal booting out of the playoffs last year, but Atlanta took the season series from Orlando this season three games to one.

Dallas ended the season on a four-game winning streak, which was preceded by a four-game losing streak, which was preceded by a five-game winning streak. Portland, meanwhile, went 16-10 after the break. These two teams split four games during the regular season, and three of those games played OVER their oddsmaker.ag totals.

Bettors should check back at oddsmaker.ag for lines on Saturday's games, and for odds on each of the eight first-round series.