Category Archives: NBA

Legends Media & Entertainment Experiences Solid Growth In First Three Months Since Launch

The National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA) today announced the numbers for the first three months of the expansion and launch of Legends Media & Entertainment (LME), a multifaceted storytelling platform producing, distributing and quantifying the wide reaching stories of many of the NBA and WNBA’s biggest stars. In three months LME in both audio and video has drawn almost 600,000 views and listens, more than three times the combined numbers of audio and video around the players in the previous nine months. Viewers and listeners have come from over 20 countries, and have enjoyed content from some of the most unique storytellers in the history of professional basketball. Athletes First Partners represents the NBRPA in its marketing endeavors and is working on engaging with brands on the platform as well.

“Basketball is a team sport, and by unifying efforts under the LME brand, we have been able to start building an audience, and a destination that fans from around the world are enjoying,” said NBRPA President and CEO Scott Rochelle. “The first three months have shown that consistency is key, and now that the season is upon us, we are expecting the concept to continue to grow both in content and in audience with our players, some of the most identifiable and engaged athletes and personalities anywhere.”

The NBRPA represents over 1,000 former NBA and WNBA players, making it the largest agency of its kind in basketball. This has allowed for direct access to players for opportunities domestically and internationally. Some of the most popular segments to date have included sessions with hoist Trill Withers talking with Charles Barkley, Bill Walton, Grant Hill and many others. The content can be seen, and heard at  https://www.legendsofbasketball.com/legendslive/

Some of the key unified elements of LME include:

Legends Magazine which debuted in 2018 and is the official publication for NBA and WNBA Legends. Produced quarterly, Legends Magazine has featured cover stories about NBRPA Director Caron Butler, Jerry Stackhouse, Elton Brand, Jamal Mashburn and “The Knuckleheads” – Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles. Each issue is delivered to all former players, active players, coaches, stakeholders, influencers and league officials worldwide.

Legends Studios also debuted in 2018 with the launch of original live-action and animated short videos and two podcasts, the All-Access Legends Podcast and On Deck with Scott Rochelle. In April 2020, Legends Live, a weekly web series broadcasted to multiple social media platforms featuring live conversations with NBA and WNBA Legends, was added to the Legends Studios portfolio. In addition to 32 standard episodes, Legends Live also covered the 2020 WNBA Draft and ESPN’s The Last Dance with live commentary from Legends. Last week, media personality Tyler Johnson, aka Trill Withers joined the LME team as host of Legends Live, where he will spend time with many of the game’s most successful and dynamic personalities and business people. Johnson will also be a key contributor to Legends Magazine, the All-Access Legends Podcast and the NBRPA’s social media strategy and content.

To follow along with LME content from the NBRPA, find them on social media at @NBAalumni on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch or on Facebook at NBA Alumni.

ShotTracker Names Bill Moses Chief Executive Officer As Part Of Company Executive Restructuring

DDSports Inc. (ShotTracker), a revolutionary basketball technology that captures via sensors stats and analytics with sub-second latency  and the leading tracking platform among NCAA schools, announced company executive restructuring in advance of a host of upcoming strategic business partnership announcements.

The Board of Directors has brought on veteran sports data industry leader Bill Moses as Chief Executive Officer, while company founder Davyeon Ross will continue with the company as the COO and President. The company’s co-founder, Bruce Ianni, has chosen to depart to pursue other opportunities.  In addition, two other sports business and tech veterans, Tom Masterman and Jason Tilton, have joined the company as VP of Sales and VP of Corporate Development, respectively

“It is a pleasure to join the ShotTracker team to help advance the commercial business opportunities of one of the most innovative and transformative companies in the data and technology side at the NCAA level,” Moses said. “The foundation partnerships with some of the most elite colleges and universities have been built, and we are now ready to push forward with growing that base and expanding the commercial and tactical opportunities in basketball and in other sports with a host of new partners coming on line in the months ahead.”

“Our technology continues to be some of the most widely embraced and supported by college programs across the nation for both men’s and women’s basketball,” Ross said. “Having Bill’s wealth of experience in monetizing and expanding data content, as well as his deep and well respected relationships in media, marketing and technology will be invaluable as we advance and continue to disrupt the marketplace in 2021 and beyond.”

A New Jersey native and University of Virginia graduate, Moses brings with him to ShotTracker his vast experience in working at the nexus of technology and media, entertainment and sports. After serving at the NFL as the Senior VP of International and New Media, Bill joined IBM as the Vice President of Broadband Distribution where he co-authored the IBM digital media strategy and was responsible for developing and executing the company’s corporate strategy in broadband industries.

While at IBM, Moses also held the position of Vice President of Broadcast, Cable and Sports for the company’s Global Telecommunications and Media Division. In that role, he created and launched ventures that resulted in the PGA.com and NHL.com internet sites, ushering the sports business and leagues into the new media age during the 1990’s. He was one of the first to deploy computer-based scoring systems across many of the leagues and helped launch the age of data analytics.

Masterman has spent two decades in sports technology and digital media, with a focus on enterprise sales and partnerships. Prior to ShotTracker, he was Global Head of Publisher Sales at Genius Sports Group, driving data integrations with clients including NBC Sports and USA Today. Tom was also the founding sales and marketing executive for SportsData, which sold to global leader Sportradar. As Chief Revenue Officer, he led the acquisition of enterprise clients including Google, Twitter and Turner Sports. Tom began his career as an Emmy-nominated TV producer and has had several management roles in digital media.

Tilton joins ShotTracker from Genius Sports Group as well, where he was Commercial Partnerships Manager. Prior to working with Genius on their North American business, he was Video Coordinator with the Phoenix Suns and has spent time on the basketball administration side at Long Beach State University and St. John’s University.

ShotTracker currently has relationships with more than 63 Division I men’s and women’s basketball programs and has a growing relationship with Learfield IMG College and their partner schools. The Learfield IMG College sponsorship teams can provide local, regional and national brands visibility associated with ShotTracker’s cutting-edge technology via scoreboard integration, digital/social platforms and experiential activations. Additionally, a growing number of schools with official athletic websites and mobile apps powered by SIDEARM Sports are adding ShotTracker technology integrated into the website and app. The crossover content provides another opportunity for brand visibility and bolsters the second-screen experience for fans.  Broadcasters are also now increasing the use of the depth and breadth of ShotTracker real time data to enhance their broadcasts.

Famer and the NBPA Expand Partnership To Offer Personal Virtual Training on Training Ground One

Famer, the sports coaching and mentorship mobile platform, announced today that it is expanding its landmark partnership with the NBPA with the launch of NBPA Training Ground One. Through the NBPA’s Training Ground channel on Famer, youth athletes will now have the opportunity to participate in one-on-one personal training sessions and receive feedback from some of the best basketball coaches and trainers in the world.

See the video here.

Aspiring basketball players who subscribe to NBPA Training Ground One will receive video workoutsthat focus on basketball training drills, as well as fitness and mental health content from top NBA players and skill trainers. This groundbreaking launch marks the first-time youth basketball players will be able to digitally connect globally and personally train with world-class NBPA grassroots trainers and develop a relationship through skill development and interactive feedback utilizing Famer’s suite of tools like telestration, voiceover and slow-motion capture.

The NBPA and Famer continue to add one-of-a-kind training content from top pros and coaches, all of which can be accessed on the NBPA Training Ground One channel. New training content is being released from current and future NBPA members Bam Adebayo, Cole Anthony, Pat Connaughton, Langston Galloway, Joe Harris and RJ Hampton, top WNBA players and icons Lisa Leslie, and Chiney Ogumike, sports yoga expert Savannah Stevens and grassroots influencers Bobbito Garcia and Remy Workouts.

Since the launch of the partnership in May, the channel has featured training videos with NBPA members such as Aaron Gordon and Andre Drummond as well as NBA-level trainers Chris Matthews and Tim and Ross Burns. Since launching in June, over one thousand athletes from 66 countries and six continents have subscribed to the NBPA Training Ground on Famer with nearly ten thousand total drill video views.

The channel will continue to expand its global reach while driving unique engagement between youth players and professional athletes and trainers.

“At Famer our mission is to empower coaches to positively impact the lives of aspiring young athletes and to democratize personal sports training” said Famer CEO Rich Abend. “This partnership brings pro level training to the masses, and gives NBPA grassroots coaches and trainers the tools they need to work directly with kids anywhere in the world. We’ve combined powerful features like interactive multimedia chat and on-screen video telestration with the world’s best library of NBPA videos covering all aspects of basketball player development, from skills and drills to fitness and the mental aspects of the game. With all the uncertainties families face with the upcoming youth basketball season because of COVID-19, we are proud to be able to provide an affordable solution for player development – whether you are on the court with your team, training at home, or any combination.”

“This next phase of our collaboration with Famer and Spalding allows us and our members to continue to digitally connect with the larger grassroots basketball community throughout this pandemic with new enhanced technology and training content. We look forward to having participants of all ages and skill levels continue to train with us anywhere and to finding ways to continue to innovate with our players and brand partners,” said Chris Jean, Senior Director of Grassroots Basketball & Business Development for THINK450, the for-profit arm of the NBPA.

As a kid I always valued the importance of hard work and the fundamentals I learned from my coaches,” said Bam Adebayo, whose instructional videos will be available on the NBPA Training Ground One. “With youth basketball facing challenges right now, I’m excited that I can help kids train and work on those same fundamentals from anywhere.

“Spalding’s mission is to ignite the soul of the game in everyone, no matter who you are or where you are in the sport of basketball”, said Matt Day, Head of Brand Communications for Spalding. “Now more than ever, athletes need a way to safely work on their game.  Spalding is excited to partner with Famer and the NBPA to make professional-level training accessible to every player.”

Information on the NBPA Training Ground and NBPA Training Ground One program can be found at www.nbpa.com/grassroots or on the Famer App in the Google Play and Apple App Store.

Shares Of NBA Players To Be Available On Jock MKT Starting Dec. 22

Wikimedia Commons/Chensiyuan

Jock MKT (Jock Market), the platform that is turning sports into a stock exchange, announced they are adding the National Basketball Association’s 72-game regular season starting Dec. 22 to allow fans to invest in shares of NBA players across all 30 teams. The announcement marks the third league within Jock MKT’s proprietary algorithm that allows investors to buy and sell shares of NFL, NBA and PGA Tour athletes in real time for real money.

Jock MKT also announced they launched on Android for the first time on Nov. 24. Jock MKT continues to be available on iOS, which launched in Apple’s App Store when the PGA Tour returned during the pandemic. The platform is approved in 34 U.S. states.

“We have seen exponential growth in Jock MKT users and investments throughout the NFL and PGA Tour schedule over the last six weeks,” said Tyler Carlin, Co-Founder of Jock MKT. “We are thrilled to be adding the NBA’s 72 game schedule at a time that will overlap with the NFL’s playoffs and more PGA Tour dates.”

As an example of Jock MKT’s investing power, if a user invested $10 in shares of Dustin Johnson at the WGC–FedEx St. Jude tournament in August and reinvested the compounded winnings at his next eight tournaments, he or she would have netted over $13,000 after his Masters’ victory.

Jock MKT’s main differentiator is their cash market format. Users can join at any time and for any dollar amount. They can buy and sell shares of NFL, NBA and PGA Tour athletes in real time, cash out early by selling to another user in-game or hold to the end and receive fixed Jock MKT payouts tied to final player rankings and overall fantasy scoring. As of Dec. 1, Jock MKT has processed nearly $2 million dollars in orders of shares.

Jock MKT was co-founded by Tyler Carlin, a 2013 graduate of MIT’s Sloan School of Management. The platform raised its first round of funding led by Will Ventures. Will Ventures’ Founding Partner and Managing Director is Isaiah Kacyvenski, a retired eight-year NFL veteran with a Harvard MBA. Accomplice founding partner Ryan Moore, an early investor and current board member of DraftKings, is also a stakeholder in Jock MKT.

Detroit Pistons Enter Multi-Year Sports Betting Partnerships With FanDuel Group And DraftKings

Pistons/Facebook

The Detroit Pistons today announced multi-year partnerships with premier sports gaming companies FanDuel Group and DraftKings, Inc., making FanDuel and DraftKings official sports betting partners of the Pistons.

In addition to the use of official Pistons marks and logos, each partnership will include a mix of robust marketing assets, including in-arena signage and activations, television and digital advertising, and TV and radio presence to drive passionate Pistons enthusiasts to each entity’s sports betting offerings.

Detroit Pistons Chief Business Officer Mike Zavodsky praised the agreement with both companies and noted the commitment to building asset packages that provide engagement strategies unique to each business.

“We appreciate the partnership-minded and collaborative approach that both FanDuel and DraftKings brought to the table,” said Zavodsky. “We look forward to utilizing our platform to help each grow their presence within and connectivity to the Pistons and greater Detroit Metro communities.”

In addition to its partnership with FanDuel, the Pistons will also partner with MotorCity Casino Hotel. FanDuel and MotorCity Casino Hotel will offer exciting game day experiences at the newly designed FanDuel Sportsbook at MotorCity Casino in downtown Detroit. On game days, MotorCity Casino will provide fans with giveaways, exclusive viewing parties and other innovative experiences to enhance sports betting experience before, during and after the games.

“The Pistons are a progressive and forward-thinking franchise committed to its fans, and we see an incredibly valuable partnership opportunity as we connect our retail Sportsbook experience with Pistons game action in the arena,” said Mike Raffensperger, CMO of FanDuel. “This new relationship will create unique approaches for us to reach Pistons fans. With the FanDuel Sportsbook at MotorCity Casino and mobile gaming offerings on the FanDuel Sportsbook app, we will together offer engaging experiences both inside and outside the arena while giving fans access to unique betting promotions and content.”

An exciting element of the DraftKings partnership includes a “Piston For A Day” VIP fan experience giving users the opportunity to enter a contest where winners receive exclusive access to the team. Winners will sign a “Pistons Contract” for a day, pose for a photo with a member of the front office staff, receive a personalized Pistons jersey and warm-up clothing to wear to a Pistons game, receive a locker room tour and postgame shot on the Little Caesars Arena floor and private access for a one-hour shootaround on the Pistons Practice Court at the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center.

“As our first professional team activation in the state of Michigan, we are thrilled to join forces with the Detroit Pistons ahead of our pending market introduction,” said Ezra Kucharz, Chief Business Officer, DraftKings. “This deal deepens our relationship with a prominent local team to facilitate more immersive fan experiences, both for Michiganders familiar with regulated gaming products as well as newcomers to the space.”

2020 NBA Draft betting preview

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Just like essentially every other sporting event on the planet this year, the 2020 NBA Draft did not go off as scheduled (late June) due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also because of COVID-19, there will be no in-person draft at Wednesday’s event but held virtually from ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.

The late date isn’t the only reason this draft will be unusual – NBA teams didn’t get to see any top prospects play in postseason games in the 2019-20 college basketball season. More than a few players have jumped up draft boards after a huge NCAA Tournament, for example. In addition, there is no clear-cut top prospect this year like there was in 2019 with Zion Williamson.

Thus, it’s truly up in the air whom the Minnesota Timberwolves might pick at No. 1 – although they reportedly would like to trade back and get a win-now asset as they are eager to return to the playoffs and make superstar Karl-Anthony Towns happy.

Basketball and sports gambling fans now know start of next NBA season

The NBA is anxious to get things going as quickly as possible in order to continue recovering revenue lost due to the COVID-19 fiasco that forced last season to take an extended break. They were pushing for a December start, while players, on the other hand, initially wanted to have more time between seasons and were trying to convince the league to hold off until January. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) have now reached an agreement to get things running again, and the news will most likely make basketball fans, as well as sports gambling fans, happy.

The 75th season of the NBA will see its first games on December 22. This is two months later than an NBA season would normally start but, since the previous season only wrapped up on October 12, there was no chance of seeing things get going on a normal schedule. The upcoming season will also see 72 games played, as opposed to the normal 82. 

Part of the reason the players agreed to start sooner, instead of holding out for January, is because of the Olympics. The Summer Olympics were already delayed from this year to next, and getting pro basketball going in December will allow the season to end around the middle of July. This gives NBA players a chance to participate in the Olympics, and several have already indicated that they are planning on going. 

Being able to appear in the Olympics is a big deal for some athletes, but the NBA had to make a couple of concessions in order to get basketball players to agree to the earlier launch. Most notably, team owners didn’t get their way as they tried to convince players to put 25% of their salaries in escrow, suggested as a way to mitigate any further COVID-19 outbreaks, and had to settle for the usual 10%. That money, if the situation arises, would be taken across next season and the following two seasons, but players won’t ever have to give up more than 20%, which would only be considered in a worst-case scenario. 

Genius Sport, Sportradar to continue as NBA data suppliers

Sportradar and Genius Sport are breathing a sigh of relief after learning that the NBA is going to keep both of the sports data suppliers around a little longer. There had been concerns that the league might dump one or the other, especially in light of reduced revenue caused by COVID-19, but the NBA has announced that there isn’t any need to make changes to the existing structure. Both companies have been working with the NBA since just after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down politicians in 2018 when they took away the U.S. Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA).

As a result of the league’s decision, Sportradar and Genius Sport will be able to continue their non-exclusive activity of distributing NBA and WNBA betting data to any licensed sports gambling operator in the U.S. There are now over 20 operators in the country with existing partnerships with the league, and NBA Senior Vice President, Head of Fantasy & Gaming Scott Kaufman-Ross states, “Over the past two seasons Sportradar and Genius Sports Group have been sources for official NBA betting data, which is crucial for authorized gaming operators and ultimately fans who engage with NBA and WNBA games through betting. The U.S. sports betting industry has recognized the value of official data, particularly for in-play betting, and these extensions will ensure operators continue to have access to our real-time feed as sports betting develops throughout the U.S.”

The sports gambling industry in the U.S. is maturing quickly, with now almost half of the states in the union offering some type of sports gambling. A handful more are set to find out if their residents want to legalize the activity through the elections that are going on now, and at least four states could be added to the growing list within the next year. As local governments are scrambling to find revenue that was lost due to COVID-19, the idea of opening regulated sports gambling markets becomes more appealing.

Sportradar Head of Global Strategic Partnerships Steve Byrd adds of the continued relationship with the NBA, “We are pleased to extend our partnership with the NBA for official NBA betting data in the U.S. market. As legalized sports betting expands into more states and grows in popularity overall, this presents us with a tremendous opportunity to continue spearheading cutting-edge NBA feeds and betting products for operators, while redefining the customer experience for the fans.”

Heat vs. Lakers, and the race is on

If the outcome of any sports competition were truly known, watching the action would have less meaning. The LA Lakers advanced to 2-0 against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals best-of-seven series and, for most, they were on their way to a possible sweep. Game 3 last night wasn’t expected to give any surprises, especially since the Heat’s front five are pretty banged up, but this is what competition is all about. The Heat destroyed the Lakers and are still in a position to take the series, as long as they keep doing what they did last night. 

There’s no arguing that Heat forward Jimmy Butler played a crucial role in the Heat’s 115-104 whooping of the Lakers. He picked up 40 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds after having found his momentum heading into the game. It’s only the third time in the history of the NBA that any player has logged a 40-point triple-double in a Finals game, and one of the other two were both by Lakers players. One of those records is held by LeBron James, who found difficulty last night. In addition to his triple-double, Butler also outscored and out-assisted LeBron – the first time King James has been outperformed in a Finals game. 

The Heat came out early and grabbed control of the game, refusing to let go. They held James to 25 points, while Markieff Morris and Kyle Kuzma each picked up 19. The lead scorer for LA in Game 2, Anthony Davis, was nowhere to be seen. After getting to the basket for 31 points in the last game, the Heat knew they needed to stop him, and he was only able to put 15 points on the board.

Davis recognizes that the Lakers didn’t live up to the hype the team has earned last night. He said after the game, “We were getting confused on a lot of things. They had wide-open looks that they missed early and made late from three. We let Jimmy [Butler] get into a strong hand too many times, getting to the basket, getting and-ones or getting to the free-throw line. We were letting guys get to the rim easily with no contact. Our low-man help wasn’t there tonight.”

NBA Finals Game 1 not the battle that was expected

Last night was the first game of the best-of-seven series to determine who will be the NBA 2020 champions. The LA Lakers and the Miami Heat fought to get to this point, both coming only a couple of games away from elimination in their respective conference title championship series. Before the opening tip-off last night, there was no shortage of speculation surrounding how things would play out, both for the game and the series, and everyone knew a battle was brewing. However, the battle last night ended not being between the Lakers and the Heat – it was between the Heat and injuries. 

The Lakers had been projected to take Game 1; however, there was no shortage of murmuring about the Heat being able to power through and score an underdog win. Several Lakers players, including LeBron James, were listed as dealing with minor injuries that could affect their play. In addition, the LA crew has traditionally used the first game of any playoff series to size up the competition before dropping the hammer. The most notable exception was the rally they had against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference title series.

LeBron’s groin injury didn’t stop him from coming out and leaving everything he had on the court last night. He put up 25 points as the Lakers found their rhythm after getting off to a strong Heat line that took the lead in the first quarter to 23-10. After that, though, Anthony Davis was all over the place, picking up 34 points and three blocks. The potential league MVP doused the Heat’s flames. At one point, the Lakers’ domination was so noticeable that they scored 18 unanswered points. 

Not only did the Lakers overpower the Heat in almost every way, but Miami suffered some major setbacks that will change the outlook for the rest of the series. If basketball fans expected this championship contest to go all the way to six or seven games, those odds just got really long as a result of devastating injuries suffered by Miami. Now at a clear disadvantage, the Heat could potentially be done in just four games. 

NBA Finals 2020 Preview: Lakers vs. Heat

The Los Angeles Lakers will face the Miami Heat for the 2020 title in Florida. The Heat confirmed their place in the finale with a gritty 125-113 win over the Celtics in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals. It’s been a six-year drought for Miami, who last visited the NBA Finals in 2013.

The #NBAFinals presented by YouTube TV are set!@MiamiHEAT/@Lakers Game 1 tips Wednesday night at 9:00pm/et on ABC. pic.twitter.com/HV0RZak6ZZ

— NBA (@NBA) September 28, 2020https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

LeBron James lines up for the Lakers, who have gone 12-3 in the post-season and claimed their place in the NBA finals with a 117-107 win in Game Five of the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets. In the process James rewrote the record books; since 2000,, 17 of the last 21 NBA Finals have featured the Lakers or James.

Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo is set to find a new home in the NBA

Eastern Conference champions, the Miami Heat have emerged as the front runners to land Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo. The Pacers guard is entering free agency and has no plans to re-sign with Indiana for the long term.

Oladipo struggled to replicate the form that saw him selected the for the All-Stars in 2017-2018. The Pacers guard suffered a ruptured quad injury this season but showed flashes of form.

He averaged 14.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game in the 19 regular-season games he played. In the four playoff games the Pacers played against the Heat, Oladipo averaged 17.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists.

Miami have plenty of cap space available and with 34-year-old Goran Dragic not getting any younger he could form a big-three with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Dragic is heading into free agency meaning that Oladipo could slot straight into the starting five.

Thursday’s NFL, NBA games deliver some surprises

Sports fans had a lot of action to choose from yesterday and there’s never been a better reason to argue for multiple TV screens in the living room. The NBA’s Western Conference finals are being decided between the LA Lakers and the Denver Nuggets and, while the outcome may have been predictable, there was still some amazing on-court activity. In the NFL, the Jacksonville Jaguars took the field against the Miami Dolphins in a showdown of two Florida-based teams, and to say this didn’t go the way anyone had expected would be an understatement. 

The Lakers were 2-1 going into Game 4 of the best-of-seven series and the 16-time NBA champs are looking to add one more to the list. The team already holds the record for the longest winning streak in the league – at 33 games – and continues to show incredible talent year after year. While the Nuggets were able to mount a comeback in the series to take the second game, the Lakers have rebounded to take a commanding lead. 

Last night saw LA take control from the first tip-off, never giving up the lead all the way through to the final buzzer. The Nuggets tried to find some magic a couple of times and were able to close the gap, but never enough to threaten the Lakers’ dominating offense. LeBron James finished the night with 26 points and nine rebounds, while Anthony Davis added 34 points and five rebounds. Those rebounds led to the Lakers recovering the ball 12 more times than the Nuggets, leading to the team getting 25 extra points they may not have counted on. 

The Nuggets didn’t play poorly, which is why the Lakers can’t relax. LA may now be up 3-1 in the series after winning last night, 114-108, but Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was on fire and scored 32 points. Denver has a habit of launching surprise attacks while behind and it’s not impossible to think that this series might be forced to go all the way to seven games before a winner is decided. Whoever emerges on top will more than likely face the Eastern Conference Miami Heat, who need to win just one more game against the Boston Celtics to advance to the NBA Finals.

Miami Heat one game away from NBA Finals appearance

The Miami Heat haven’t won an Eastern Conference title since 2014. They’ve done consistently well in their division, but winning the conference has eluded them, as has an NBA Championship, which they last won in 2013. This year, things are looking up for the team and it’s now just one game away from taking the East, with three games left in the best-of-seven series. They handed the Boston Celtics another defeat last night to take a 3-1 lead, and are closer than ever to an NBA Finals appearance. 

Last night’s game was poised to be a tight match from start to finish, and the Celtics were favored to win. The team’s ringer, Gordon Hayward, was out for the first two games due to injury, but was able to come back in Game 3 – the game that put the Celtics on the board. He wasn’t at 100% for the last game, but his presence was seen as enough to motivate Boston to grab the victory. Hayward was expected to bring much of that same fire last night, but he wasn’t able to find his rhythm. In the first half, he and Marcus Smart, another go-to man for the Celtics, went 3-for-12 – combined. 

The Heat kept the pressure on in the first half and moved up by 12 in the third quarter, seemingly a sign of the eventual win. However, Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, who had a goose egg in the first half, woke up and tried to put his team back in the game. He scored 28 points in the second half and brought the Celtics to within just a point as the game entered the final quarter. Boston would move ahead by a point a little more than halfway through the quarter thanks to a hook-up between Jaylen Brown and Daniel Theis, but it was, by this point, too little too late. 

The star for the Heat was someone that many didn’t think needed additional coverage. Tyle Herro scored 37 points, 17 of which came in the fourth quarter, to be Miami’s star. The rookie guard was picked by Miami in the first round of the 2019 draft, and he was on fire last night. Even Celtics coach Brad Stevens was mesmerized with his abilities, saying after the game, “Herro’s shot-making tonight was the difference in the game. Herro was ridiculously good tonight. The rim must have looked like the ocean to him.”

Lakers clear favorites for Game 3 against Nuggets

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

No team has ever rallied from down 3-0 to win an NBA playoff series. Then again, the Denver Nuggets have rallied from two 3-1 series deficits in this postseason. They trail the Los Angeles Lakers 2-0 entering Tuesday’s Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals from the Orlando bubble with Los Angeles opening as a 6.5-point favorite.

While Denver wasn’t all that competitive in Game 1 – perhaps a bit gassed after back-to-back seven-game series – the Nuggets were in position to win Game 2 on Sunday. Nikola Jokic was fantastic and scored his team’s final 12 points, including a 10-footer with 20.8 seconds left to give the Nuggets a 103-102 lead. However, Anthony Davis hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer off an inbounds play to give the Lakers a memorable 105-103 win.

That’s a shot the Nuggets would be happy with in normal circumstances because Davis hasn’t been a particularly good shooter from deep this year. It was his second career game-winning buzzer-beater and first in the playoffs. It was the first Lakers game-winning buzzer-beater in the playoffs since Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) in 2010.

Clippers, Celtics favorites on Tuesday NBA odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The Los Angeles Clippers franchise has never reached the NBA’s Western Conference Finals. With offseason additions in All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, this was supposed to be the best Clippers team ever. Yet, they could be on the verge of coming up short of the West Finals again as Los Angeles has been forced into a Game 7 of the conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET) from the Orlando bubble. Los Angeles is a 7-point favorite but is 1-4 ATS in the past five meetings.

The Clippers frankly would be called chokers if they lose this game and series because they blew double-digit leads in both Games 5 and 6. The Nuggets stayed alive with a 111-98 victory on Sunday despite trailing by 19 points with 22 minutes remaining. Denver center Nikola Jokic was easily the best player on the floor with 34 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Jamal Murray had 21 points.

Denver is looking to become the first team in NBA history to rally from a pair of 3-1 deficits in the same postseason. The Nuggets did so in Round 1 against Utah. Dating back to the 2019 postseason, the Nuggets are the first team in NBA history to play a Game 7 in four straight series. Tuesday’s winner will be a series underdog in the West Finals against the well-rested Los Angeles Lakers. That series would start Friday.

Lakers favorites for Thursday Game 4 vs Rockets

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks and the Western Conference semifinal matchup between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers had been tied together from the Orlando bubble in terms of both games playing on the same night.

That’s over, however, as the fifth-seeded Heat shocked the top-seeded Bucks in five games Tuesday, closing things out with a 103-94 victory. It clearly helped Miami’s chances that Milwaukee superstar and lock repeat NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t play Game 5 due to an ankle injury. The only game the Bucks won in the series was Game 4 when the Greek Freak injured the ankle early in the second quarter and didn’t return.

Miami was clearly the better team and has reached its first conference final since 2014, which was the last season of the LeBron James/Dwyane Wade/Chris Bosh dynasty. The Heat are the first No. 5 seed to reach the NBA’s final four since the Memphis Grizzlies in 2013.

Bodog sportsbook bullish on basketball and baseball bets

The NBA Bubble at Disney World in Orlando, Florida has worked more efficiently and safely than most major corporations around the world. That says a lot, given the limited amount of time the league had to put everything together. With the playoffs now underway and Round 2 beginning, there is a lot to look forward to, and sports gambling fans haven’t been wasting any time grabbing a piece of the action. Yet again, NBA wagers are on top at the Bodog sportsbook, but MLB is right on its heels. 

This past weekend, Bodog saw 34.76% of its wagers targeting NBA games, with MLB wagers only a little behind at 34.35%. There were a couple more basketball games on tap for the weekend after teams boycotted last week following another police-involved shooting of an unarmed man, which forced a couple of games to be shifted to the weekend. Had it not been for that, it’s possible that MLB wagers would have unseated the NBA from its first-place position on the charts. 

The NHL, which is now running the Stanley Cup playoffs, was on the list, as well, but only captured 7.66% of the bets. This will most likely change now that the race for the championship is much deeper, and the hockey league should grab more of the action next weekend. Included among the top ten targets for sports gamblers on Bodog this past weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship grabbed 5.1% of the action, the PGA Tour’s BMC Championship saw 4.12% and, a little surprisingly, table tennis jumped into sixth place, receiving 3.51%. Sports gambling fans also put down some money on WNBA games, NFL 2020 Sims, the ATP Tour and, with just 2.2% of the wagers, MLS. 

Despite the fact that the NBA and MLB were neck-and-neck in the race for wagers on Bodog this weekend, individual NBA games captured all top ten spots in terms of individual contest wagers, except one. In sixth place, the BMW Championship accounted for 9.33% of the action, thanks to an awesome battle between Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson. Both golf pros were on fire, sinking a number of shots that almost seemed impossible, including a 66-footer by Rahm that took almost a 90-degree turn into the cup. That was on the 18th hole, and followed a 45-foot birdie by Johnson that forced a playoff between the two. Rahm would go on to win, bouncing back from six-over-par after two rounds. That gave him bragging rights for the best 36-hole recovery leading to a championship in 40 years. 

Raptors, Nuggets small favorites on Tuesday NBA odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

One small benefit of the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the NBA for around four months? Playoff basketball in September for the first time. Tuesday is the first day of September and there are two postseason games on the schedule from the ESPN World Wide of Sports Complex in the Orlando bubble.

The first game at 5:30 p.m. ET is the Eastern Conference third-seeded Boston Celtics as 1.5-point underdogs against the No. 2 Toronto Raptors in Game 2 of their conference semifinal series. Interesting line considering Boston largely dominated Game 1 in a 112-94 victory Sunday to improve to 4-1 against the Raptors this season.

Boston’s Jayson Tatum had 21 points and nine rebounds and Kemba Walker 18 points and 10 assists, but those two stars are expected to play well. The Celtics also got surprising contributions from Daniel Theis (13 points, 15 rebounds), Marcus Smart (21 points, six rebounds) and Robert Williams III (10 points, five rebounds in only 19 minutes off the bench).

Olympic Entertainment Group as (oeg) to become official betting partner of the NBA in the Baltics and Slovakia

– OEG’s Sports Betting Brand OlyBet to Reach Thousands of NBA Fans in the Region Through Online Platforms, Retail Locations and Casinos. 

– The 2019-20 NBA Season to Restart July 30; Playoffs to Tip Off Aug. 17.

LONDON, July 30, 2020 – Olympic Entertainment Group AS (OEG) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced a new multiyear partnership that will make its flagship betting brand OlyBet the official betting partner of the NBA in the region.

The exclusive partnership, covering Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, will be promoted in more than 100 casino and retail locations in the region and on OlyBet’s and the NBA’s social and digital assets. OEG will also become the presenting partner of the NBA’s free-to-play gaming platform, NBA Pick’Em, which will be localised for the region.