Bettors Back Denver Nuggets in NBA Playoffs Game 7 vs. Los Angeles Clippers

Posted on: September 15, 2020, 01:29h. 

Last updated on: September 15, 2020, 01:51h.

Bill Huber Read More

Expertise: Sports Betting, Sports.

From a betting perspective, Game 7 of the NBA’s Western Conference playoffs series between the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets will be a decision of talent vs. momentum.

The Clippers have been a top championship contender all season, had the better record during the regular season, and took a 3-1 series lead. The Nuggets, however, won the last two games to force Tuesday night’s decisive matchup.

“They’re betting the Nuggets with the points and they’re betting the Clippers on the money line,” said Ed Salmons, the vice president of risk management at SuperBook, to Casino.org.

Betting on Momentum

When Salmons checked the bets, he was surprised by what he found.

Wow, the ticket count is all Denver,” Salmons said. “That leads me to believe the Clippers will cover tonight. It’s perception with the public. They see Denver winning the last two games and they’re getting 7.5. We like that.”

The Clippers blew leads of 15 points in Game 5 and 19 points in Game 6 to fall to 0-7 all-time when they’ve had a chance to advance to the Western Conference finals. Coach Doc Rivers will hope his star player, Kawhi Leonard, can change that ugly history. Last year, Leonard was NBA Finals MVP in leading the Toronto Raptors to an unlikely championship.

“Kawhi has no experience with this team,” Rivers told reporters on Monday. “He’s unshakable. You can’t guarantee that he’s going to play well or not because he’s human – and all players are – but you know the moment won’t be too big. That’s the one thing with him, you just know that. So, that’s comforting to know that.”

The winner will face the Los Angeles Lakers for the Western Conference title. The Lakers and Clippers have been among the betting favorites all season.

Beast of the East

The Eastern Conference finals will start on Tuesday night with the Boston Celtics facing the Miami Heat. The third-seeded Celtics swept the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, and ousted the defending champion Raptors 4-3 in the second round. The fifth-seeded Heat has been the hottest team in the NBA bubble, sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the first round and stunning the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks 4-1 in the second round.

“The public’s going with the Celtics in this series,” Salmons told Casino.org. “In the East, we basically have a liability on both these teams. We have more on Miami than Boston, so we’re rooting for Boston. But then to win the NBA championship, we have more liability on Boston. Miami, we win; Boston, we lose.”

Led by LeBron James, the Lakers have been among the favorites all season.

“The Lakers are most of our liability,” Salmons said. “That goes back to last summer, when people were coming through here and betting the Lakers at crazy-low odds and putting a ton of money on them. If you remember, they were supposed to sign Kawhi Leonard, which never panned out. We’re definitely rooting for the Clippers tonight. Our two outs in the NBA futures were the Clippers and Milwaukee, and Milwaukee really burned us.”