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David Purdum
The Indiana Pacers, one win away from the biggest upset in a modern NBA Finals series, have earned the respect of influential bettors heading into Sunday’s Game 7 against the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
Multiple sportsbooks reported taking bets on the underdog Pacers from sharp bettors Friday and Saturday, causing the Game 7 spread to drop by as many as two points. After opening with the Thunder favored by 8.5, the line at ESPN BET moved to Oklahoma City -6.5 on Friday. The consensus line Sunday morning was Thunder -7, tied for the largest point spread in a Finals Game 7 since 1991, according to ESPN Research.
“With the way the series has played out, I can see people taking the [points] rather than laying,” Jeff Sherman, the vice president of risk for the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, told ESPN.
Sherman, a veteran NBA oddsmaker, said his book took bets on Indiana +8 and +7.5 from influential bettors.
Chris Andrews, the sportsbook director at the South Point in Las Vegas, said he took sharp action on Indiana and had to move the line down to Oklahoma City -7 before he could attract any money on the favored Thunder.
The Pacers entered the Finals as +525 underdogs to beat the Thunder in the series. At those odds, Indiana would become the biggest underdog to prevail in the Finals since at least 1975, surpassing the 2004 Detroit Pistons, who upset the Los Angeles Lakers as +500 underdogs, according to SportsOddsHistory.com.
Indiana, after reaching the Eastern Conference finals last year, got off to a slow start this season. The Pacers’ odds to win the championship got as long as 150-1 midway through the season, and few bettors believed they had a chance entering the playoffs. Sixteen teams had attracted more bets to win the title than Indiana at BetMGM, including the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers, two squads not in the postseason. The Pacers accounted for 1% of the money wagered on the sportsbook’s odds to win the championship.
Indiana, which entered the season at 50-1 to win the title, would be the biggest preseason long shot to win a title in the past 40 seasons, according to ESPN Research.