The Dallas Mavericks are one win away from making their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2011, when they beat the Miami Heat for their only NBA championship. A return to the Finals for Dallas will take players like Luka Dončić, P.J. Washington, and Derrick Jones Jr to new career heights. For one particular sports bettor at Paris Las Vegas, it will be life-changing.
The anonymous bettor placed a $50 three-leg parlay back on December 29. At the time, the Mavericks were 18-14 and coming off a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, one of five losses in seven games.
The wager that was placed at the time was for Dallas to win the Western Conference Finals, which by itself paid +1800.
The bettor’s parlay is almost a certain win today, but it began with two football exactas which were far from certain. At +550, the betting slip had the Michigan Wolverines beating the Washington Huskies in the championship game. And at +1800, the bet was for the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
At the time, we already knew that Michigan and Washington were in the College Football Playoff. It’s why that bet paid the shortest odds on the parlay. But the Chiefs were coming off a Christmas Day loss at home to the Las Vegas Raiders, and we knew by then they were going to play in the playoffs on the road.
The 49ers played on Christmas night, and were manhandled by the Baltimore Ravens.
A Super Bowl match between the two and a Super Bowl win by the Chiefs looked like a longshot at that time, which is why it paid +1800.
Altogether, the Chiefs over the 49ers, Michigan over Washington, and the Mavericks as the champions of the Western Conference had odds of +197500.
Beginning Tuesday night in Dallas, the Mavericks have four chances to turn that bettor’s $50 late December bet into a $98,750 late May win. With Dallas up 3-0 on the Timberwolves, they are -1800 to win the Western Conference.
Looking Ahead to the NBA Finals
Dallas has four chances to get past Minnesota and into the NBA Finals, but they’d like to get it done right away. On Monday, the Boston Celtics completed their sweep of the Indiana Pacers with their third late fourth quarter comeback victory.
The Celtics now sit and wait until June 6, when Game 1 of the Finals is scheduled for Boston’s TD Garden. Even if the Mavericks don’t close out the series on Tuesday, there is still plenty of time to rest and get healthy. But if a couple of games go by and they find themselves still playing against Minnesota in June, there will be anxious moments.
If Dallas completes the sweep, it would be the first time both conference finals finished 4-0. The NBA Finals schedule will not change. We’ll go without NBA basketball for more than a week, and then we’ll have the Finals.
Games 1 and 2 are in Boston on June 6 and 9, and then the Western Conference winner will host Game 3 and Game 4 on June 12 and 14.
With over 25 years of experience as a distinguished sports writer for renowned platforms such as Fox Sports and ESPN, Kyle Garlett is a sports betting specialist who has been at the forefront of documenting the global surge in sports betting and online gaming. Based in Denver, Colorado, Kyle hosts an NFL betting YouTube show and podcast. Kyle also has two sports books published by HarperCollins.
Kyle graduated the Azusa Pacific University in 1996 with a B.A. Degree in Communication and Journalism.
