Athletes using the smallest perceived slights as motivation is a tale as old as time. So, even on a team as dominant as the Boston Celtics were this season, Jaylen Brown couldn’t turn down an opportunity to fuel his MVP NBA Finals performance with a little disrespect.
The disrespect in question? Betting splits for the Finals, which were significantly tilted in favor of the Dallas Mavericks at one sportsbook, according to a screenshot Brown shared to his Instagram story Tuesday morning.
It’s not immediately clear where Brown originally saw the splits, but it says 89% of the bets picked the Mavericks to win the finals. The numbers were similar at BetMGM, where 87% sided with Dallas. Of course, there’s a perfectly logical explanation Brown likely overlooked.
Jaylen Brown kept receipts on bettors
(via fchwpo/IG) pic.twitter.com/vtX9lEXkOd
— br_betting (@br_betting) June 18, 2024
Dallas likely received the majority of bets because their +180 odds to win the series would have returned a better profit versus the odds of Boston, which had been favored all season.
At FanDuel, the Celtics were -230 favorites in the series, leaving very little value for bettors looking to make the most bang for their buck. In other words, if you didn’t catch the Celtics’ title odds before the playoffs started, you weren’t likely going to bet on them as they became shorter and shorter.
So the splits Brown saw weren’t a reflection of the entire betting public. The futures market at the start of the finals was simply a place for people looking to get lucky on Dallas. Celtics bettors found more value on things like MVP, and totals and spreads from individual games.
But who cares about facts? If the fake slight helped Brown lead the Celtics to a title, then it did its job.
