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Morning Coffee: Nuggets advance to NBA Finals
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The Denver Nuggets are headed to the NBA Finals.
The Nuggets clinched their first trip to the NBA Finals with a 113-111 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night to complete the four-game sweep in the Western Conference Finals.
Denver to win the West opened at 10-to-1 at FanDuel.
The Nuggets to sweep the series was also 10-to-1.
No franchise in NBA history had won more playoff games before making their first Finals appearance.
As someone who recommended plays on Denver to win the series at -150, to win the NBA title at +230, as well as Nikola Jokic to win NBA Finals MVP at +270, last night’s sweep was a welcome sight.
We also cashed the FanDuel Same Game Parlay that I recommended in Monday’s Morning Coffee column, pushing our FanDuel Best Bet win streak to eight in a row.
Can we make it nine in a row with another winner?
This is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday May 23rd, 2023
Nuggets Advance To The NBA Finals
A year ago at this time, I couldn’t miss with my futures bets for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
I bet on the Colorado Avalanche to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning as the exact Stanley Cup Final outcome at 47-1 in April.
After locking in that wager, I bet on both the Avalanche and Lightning to win their series in each of the first three rounds.
If I didn’t place another series winner bet, I would have gone 7-0 thanks to Colorado and Tampa Bay alone.
Fast-forward one year later, and it’s a couple of NBA teams from Denver and Florida that have helped me cash in at FanDuel in the Nuggets and the Miami Heat.
Couldn’t be happier for the Denver Nuggets, and my bank account..#OURNUGGETS @DomPadulaEDGE @realEricCohen
— Evan Render (@evanrender) May 23, 2023
I’m 4-0 with the NBA futures bets I’ve recommended in this column.
Jokic and the Nuggets can make it 6-0 if they win the title and the Joker goes on to win NBA Finals MVP.
Based on what we have seen this NBA postseason, Denver absolutely deserves to be a heavy favourite to win the title at FanDuel.
Fortunately for us, the Nuggets didn’t get the same respect that some other teams did in the betting markets to this point, and we were able to take advantage.
The journey continues 🚗 pic.twitter.com/hy0mKXANDD
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 23, 2023
Heading into Game 3, Denver was a +188 money line underdog at FanDuel.
I wrote in this column about waiting for an even better number.
As it turns out, we got exactly that as the Nuggets could be found at +230 on the money line tied 7-7 early in the first quarter of that game.
Denver ended up cruising to a 119-108 win.
Two nights later, it was a similar story.
I wrote about taking the same approach to Game 4 in Monday’s Morning Coffee column, and we cashed again
While I considered making Denver money line my FanDuel Best Bet, I highlighted that I wanted to wait for a better number, and we absolutely got that last night.
Trailing by 15 at the half, the Nuggets were +520 on the money line at FanDuel.
I understand that LeBron James absolutely went off in the first half, but he clearly wasn’t getting any help, and it seemed unreasonable that LeBron would be able to keep up that pace for a full 48 minutes.
As it turns out, it was a good number to bet Denver at once again.
The Nuggets outscored the Lakers by 17 the rest of the way to match the largest halftime comeback ever to clinch an NBA Finals appearance.
It was the third-largest halftime comeback to complete a playoff series sweep in the shot-clock era.
A season of firsts for Denver....
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 23, 2023
- 1st time reaching NBA Finals (94 playoff wins most in NBA history prior to 1st Finals app)
- 1st time with best record in its conference (was 1 of 5 active franchises to never do so)
- 1st playoff series sweep (44th playoff series) pic.twitter.com/VPmWW0bbIL
We cashed with back-to-back wins betting on Denver live at +230 and then at +520 at FanDuel.
We also hit on our futures bet on the Nuggets to win the series at -150, which was clearly a very good number.
Nuggets +520 live cashes and more importantly… the streak continues! 🔥
— Domenic Padula (@DomPadulaEDGE) May 23, 2023
NBA SGP 💰
Nuggets to win series 💰
That’s EIGHT straight @FanDuelCanada best bet winners in my Morning Coffee column. Let’s do it again in the am! ☕️ https://t.co/Q0dov0mfFA #GamblingTwitter #NBAPlayoffs https://t.co/g5QWXXivNm pic.twitter.com/2vO7D2zWRk
While we managed to cash in over the past few weeks, that window is likely closed now that Denver will be a heavy favourite for the NBA Finals.
Hopefully for yours truly, the Nuggets can finish what they started and we see Jokic named NBA Finals MVP following the first championship win in franchise history.
Bobrovsky Slams Door On Hurricanes As Panthers Take 3-0 Series Lead
The Florida Panthers made history with a 1-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night.
With the win, the Panthers became the first team in NHL history to enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the lowest-seeded team and own multiple 3-0 leads in a best-of-seven series that same postseason.
Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside all 32 shots he faced for the shutout.
Believe it or not, it was his first-career playoff shutout.
No surprise, Sergei Bobrovsky has emerged as the favourite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at +260.
I think that’s a solid number to bet him at this morning.
Bobrovsky has won 10 of his last 11 starts, giving up two goals or fewer in eight straight starts.
If you think that Bobrovsky can lead the Panthers to five more wins, then you absolutely want to consider his Conn Smythe Trophy odds.
Meanwhile, the under has now cashed in each of Florida’s last eight games.
Will we see a high scoring Game 4 on Wednesday night.
The total opened 5.5 at FanDuel, and it’s already heavily juiced to the under at -122.
A FanDuel Best Bet For Tuesday Night
We cashed our NBA Same Game Parlay and our Nuggets to win the series future last night to improve to 8-0 for +8.4 units with the FanDuel Best Bets in Morning Coffee dating back to last Monday.
Hopefully, we can keep it going with another winner this morning.
If you’re familiar with this column, then you know that I’m a big fan of the No Run First Inning bet at FanDuel.
You place the wager on there to be no runs in the first inning of an MLB game, then you need six outs without a run scored in order to win the bet.
I like the NRFI in tonight’s game between the San Francisco Giants and the Minnesota Twins at -128.
Minnesota’s scheduled starter Sonny Gray is 4-0 with a 1.64 ERA in nine starts this season.
He has an 8-1 record to the NRFI this season.
San Francisco will counter with Alex Cobb, who is 3-1 with a 1.94 ERA in nine starts.
He’s allowed just two earned runs over his past three starts.
Cobb also owns an 8-1 record to the NRFI this season.
I’m confident that both pitchers can take care of business tonight – at least in the first inning.
I’ll take the NRFI in tonight’s game between the Giants and Twins at -128 as my FanDuel Best Bet.
Good luck to anyone who tails!
Hopefully, we can push the streak to nine straight winners.