Big NBA Playoff Bets on Milwaukee Bucks Come Up Empty

Posted on: September 8, 2020, 08:23h. 

Last updated on: September 9, 2020, 11:11h.

Bill Huber Read More
Expertise: Sports Betting, Sports.

A mobile bettor at William Hill saw his big bets go down the drain before the Milwaukee Bucks’ NBA playoff game against the Miami Heat even tipped off.

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is the favorite to win this year’s NBA MVP, watched from the bench as Miami eliminated the Bucks on Tuesday night. (Image: Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports)

A bettor placed a $42,000 money-line wager on the Bucks to beat the Heat in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night. At +165, the payout would have been $111,300.

The bettor also placed a $42,000 wager on the spread. With the Bucks a four-point underdog (-110), the payout would have been an additional $80,220.

Instead, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning MVP and favorite to win the award again this year, was inactive because of an ankle injury sustained in the Bucks’ Game 4 victory. Milwaukee fought hard, but lost 103-94. Just like that, the team with the best record in the regular season was unceremoniously eliminated, 4-1.

Bucks Can’t Beat the Heat

The Bucks entered the playoffs at +300 to win the championship, the second-shortest odds. Instead, for the second consecutive season, the regular-season powerhouse got decked before reaching the NBA Finals.

The Heat, which reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2014, was +400 to win the series. Now, it’s the favorite to win the conference at +105 at PointsBet.

The playoffs will continue on Wednesday. In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics hold a 3-2 lead over the defending champion Toronto Raptors. Boston is a three-point favorite in the game and -450 to win the series.

In the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Clippers have a 2-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets. The Clippers are an eight-point favorite and a massive -2,000 to win the series. The Clippers are the favorite to win the NBA Championship at BetMGM. They are +190, the Lakers are +275 and the Heat is +450.

Keeping Giannis

The Bucks and Clippers are the early favorites to win the 2020-21 NBA championship. At PointsBet, they are +350, the Lakers are +375, and Golden State and Miami are +500.

The Bucks’ odds depend largely on Antetokounmpo’s future. He’ll be a free agent at the end of next season. Small-market Milwaukee can hand him a supermax contract extension worth a reported $220 million, which is significantly more than any other team can offer.

Will Antetokounmpo take the money and continue to grow with the community he calls home? Or will he refuse to sign the contract and perhaps force a trade to a team he deems more likely to win it all?

After the game, he sounded intent on staying with the team that drafted him with the 15th pick in 2013.

Hopefully, we can learn from this and get better as a team and come back,” Antetokounmpo told reporters after the game. “Hopefully, we can build a culture in Milwaukee that, for many years, we can come out and compete every single year for a championship.”

Asked by Yahoo Sports if he might leave Milwaukee, he said: “It’s not happening. That’s not happening. Some see a wall and go in [another direction]. I plow through it. We just have to get better as a team, individually and get right back at it next season.”

Going back to the big bets on the Bucks, it was a victory for William Hill, which paid out big money on Denver in one playoff game, and even bigger money on Denver in another.