USA men’s Olympic basketball: Public cashes big on player props

The United States won big in a 110-84 victory over Serbia to kick off the Olympics.

The public might have been even bigger winners.

The five most popular player props all hit according to BetMGM as the public heavily backed the overs despite a ton of juice.

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a sweat. In fact, most of the props cashed late, including a miracle hit with only one second to go in the game.

But more on that in a bit.

First off, Nikola Jokic eclipsing 18.5-points at -145 had the majority tickets. However, it took midway through the fourth quarter for it to cash. He sat at 16 points after three and hadn’t scored for a 5:16 stretch. Fortunately, he scored a pair of lay-ups in less than a minute for his final points of the game to hit the over.

Steph Curry making 2.5 three-pointers had a ridiculous amount of juice at -180. The public pounded it nonetheless, assuming it was easy money. They were right…but just barely. And boy was it a major sweat.  Curry didn’t make his last until a meaningless, look away three with seven seconds left in the game when they could have dribbled out the clock.

Steph hit a look away three in the Olympics and the crowd went wild pic.twitter.com/ILUG9cRxNX

— Guru (@DrGuru_) July 28, 2024

LeBron James scoring over 15.5 points was another popular bet at +100. It cashed easily as he finished with 21, hitting the over with a lay-up with 5:31 to go in the third. LeBron going over 4.5 assists (-155) was the fifth-most bet prop. Unlike the others, this one hit early with one second to go in the first half on a Kevin Durant jumper.

The other most popular bet was Jokic dishing out over 5.5 assists (-120). He finished with eight dimes, though it didn’t hit until midway through the fourth quarter.

The biggest dud on the day was Joel Embiid. The 76ers’ star was favored to lead the United States in rebounds (7.5) but finished with a paltry four. It’s also fair to wonder if his starting spot in the lineup is on shaky ground as Team USA was -8 with him on the court. Meanwhile, they were +34 with him riding pine.

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