NBA bettors suffer brutal bad beats

Las Vegas Review-Journal

4 years ago

New York Knicks forward Julius Randle (30) goes to the basket against Indiana Pacers guard Aaro ... — New York Knicks forward Julius Randle (30) goes to the basket against Indiana Pacers guard Aaron Holiday (3) and forward Domantas Sabonis (11) in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jordan Bell (7) grabs rebound between teammate Robert Covington (33) and Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Executive chairman and Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan, third from bottom left, fans, and the New York Knicks bench react as Knicks forward Julius Randle misses a free throw in the final second of the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

All bad beats are not created equal. Some are more painful than others and leave shell-shocked bettors wondering what they did to deserve such a cruel fate.

Anybody who bet on the Knicks-Pacers Over 209 on Saturday can relate.

Indiana led 104-100 with 5:05 left and the over looked like a lock. The final score was 104-103.

After Mitchell Robinson made a dunk to make it 104-100, the teams combined to make only 1 of 21 shots the rest of the way.

Over bettors had one last chance to cash when Julius Randle was fouled with 0.1 seconds left and New York trailing 104-102.

Two made free throws meant overtime and a guaranteed over. Randle hit the first free throw. But he clanged the second off the back of the rim to twist a dagger into the hearts and bankrolls of over bettors.

We can only hope that one of those gamblers didn’t also suffer a brutal beat on the Timberwolves on Friday night.

Minnesota meltdown

Minnesota, a 3½-point underdog to the Thunder, led 121-119 with 3.9 seconds left when Jordan Bell missed two free throws that could’ve sealed the win. But the Timberwolves rebounded Bell’s miss and Karl-Anthony Towns was fouled with 1.1 seconds left.

Towns missed a free throw, then Minnesota was issued a technical foul for a delay of game because Bell didn’t have his jersey tucked in when he subbed in.

Danilo Gallinari made the technical free throw for Oklahoma City to make it 121-120. The Thunder were out of timeouts so Towns tried to intentionally miss his second free throw to run out the clock. But he made it, giving Oklahoma City a chance at a throw-in. Steven Adams threw a pass the length of the court to Dennis Schroder, who beat the buzzer with a layup to send the game to overtime.

The Thunder outscored the Timberwolves 17-5 in OT en route to a 139-127 win and cover.

Bowl line moves

Circa Sports sportsbook posted lines on all of the college football bowl games at 4 p.m. Sunday. Here are the biggest line moves in the first 24 hours:

Eastern Michigan went from a 16½-point underdog to 10½-point underdog to Pittsburgh in the Quick Lane Bowl.

Arkansas State went from pick to a 3-point favorite over Florida International in the Camellia Bowl.

Boise State dropped from a 6½-point underdog to 3½-point underdog to Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Louisiana Tech moved from a 10-point underdog to 7-point underdog to Miami, Fla. in the Independence Bowl.

Texas went from a 10-point underdog to 7-point underdog to Utah in the Alamo Bowl.

Memphis went from a 9½-point underdog to 7-point underdog to Penn State in the Cotton Bowl.

Kansas State flipped from a 1½-point underdog to a 1-point favorite over Navy in the Liberty Bowl.

Contest leaderboard

There’s a two-way tie for first place in the Westgate SuperContest. Tuco, who started the season 27-3 ATS, went 3-1-1 this week to maintain a share of the lead at 47-21-2 (69.1 percent). CRISPR went 4-0-1 to tie Tuco.

The Circal Sports Million Pro Football Contest leader is Booty Blockers, who went 2-1-2 this week to stay in first with a 48-19-3 (71.6 percent) record.

More Betting: Follow at reviewjournal.com/betting.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.