NBA playoffs betting: One bettor put a few thousand bucks on a Jusuf Nurkic rebounds prop
If you've ever bet a player prop for a basketball game, you know it can be fun ... and also a very strange way to watch a game.
Tracking any one player, hoping he gets to 10 rebounds or 5 assists or whatever prop you have is peculiar. But winners are winners, and one bettor thinks he has one on Jusuf Nurkic's rebounding ability.
Before Game 2 of the Denver Nuggets-Portland Trail Blazers game on Monday night, one bettor put a surprising bet on Nurkic over 10.5 rebounds at BetMGM. He or she put down $4,000 to win $2,963 on over 10.5 rebounds by Nurkic at -135 odds.
That bettor will have an interesting night rooting for Portland's center to grab rebounds.
Will Jusuf Nurkic go over 10.5 rebounds?
You don't often see a bet of a few thousand dollars come in on a player prop, but the bettor obviously sees some value. Nurkic had 12 rebounds in Game 1 against the Nuggets, and had at least 13 rebounds in two of Portland's last two regular-season games, including 13 against Denver in the finale.
Other props got some attention at BetMGM, with only two playoff games on the schedule. In the Milwaukee Bucks-Miami Heat game, the most-bet props were Heat center Bam Adebayo to record 2 or more blocks, Giannis Antetokounmpo score 40 or more points against Miami's tough defense and Khris Middleton to record a double-double.
In Nuggets-Trail Blazers, the most-bet player props are Nikola Jokic to record a triple-double and Jokic over 30.5 points. Bettors have a lot of faith in the presumptive NBA MVP.
Player props, once reserved for the Super Bowl or other huge NFL games, have caught on for all games across all sports. Watching a game and rooting for Nurkic to grab rebounds might be a fairly new concept — though fantasy sports players know the experience well — but it becomes a lot more interesting when there's a $4,000 bet on it.
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