Every week on Mondays, we’ll recap the worst beats in sports betting. This week, the Louisville Cardinals were a thorn in the side of gamblers twice, while the NBA gave us a bad beat for the ages.
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Duke 71 Louisville 69
Line: Louisville +325 ML
Duke engineered perhaps the greatest comeback of the college basketball season last Thursday night. Trailing by 23 points with 9:17 remaining in the game, the Blue Devils stormed back to defeat Louisville 71-69. The Cardinals still covered the 7.5-point spread but bettors who took Louisville +325 on the money line will never forget the meltdown.
The 23-point comeback is Duke’s largest since 1950 when they erased a 31-point deficit to Tulane. According to ESPN, the Blue Devils had a 0.1 percent chance to win the game when they were down by 23 points. It will go down as one of the most memorable moments of the 2019 season and a loss that will stick with Cardinals money line bettors for a long time.
Louisville 56 Clemson 55
Line: Louisville -4.5
Apparently, Louisville didn’t feel it screwed bettors enough in the Duke game, so the Cardinals choked away another lead Saturday against Clemson just for good measure.
Louisville closed as a 4.5-point favorite and led the Tigers 55-47 with just 35 seconds left in the game. Clemson hit a bucket to cut Louisville’s lead to six and then that’s when things got interesting.
After Steven Enoch, an 83 percent free-throw shooter, hit one of two at the foul line, Louisville led 56-49 with 17 seconds remaining. Then Clemson’s Marcquise Reed hit a three to make it a four-point game with nine seconds on the clock.
On Louisville’s next possession, Dwayne Sutton got trapped in the backcourt by two Clemson defenders. They forced a jump ball and that gave possession back to the Tigers. Another three by Reed made it a 56-55 cover and Clemson actually had a chance to win the game on the final play. The second bad beat in four days for Louisville bettors.
New Jersey Nets 148 Cleveland Cavaliers 139 (Triple OT)
Line: Cavaliers +7.5
The Nets and Cavaliers closed the first half of the NBA season with a bad beat they may go down as the worst of the year. It will be difficult for those who were on Cleveland +7.5 to suffer a worse loss over the next four months.
Is there anything worse for bettors when a sizeable underdog fails to cover in overtime? How about three overtimes? The Cavs led this game most of the way in regulation. Cleveland was up by 10 points in the third quarter and led by five with 4:34 in the game as a 7.5-point dog.
The Nets came back to send the game into overtime and then things got crazy. The Nets led by three with 2.8 seconds left in the first overtime but Collin Sexton nailed a three-pointer to force double OT.
The buzzer beaters weren’t done though. With the Cavs up by three in double OT, DeMarre Carroll returned the favor, nailing at three at the buzzer to send the game to triple OT.
The Nets scored 20 points in the third overtime to take control but the Cavaliers were still covering 146-139. Then Ante Zizic thought he was still playing college and decided to foul with 10 seconds left. The Nets hit both free throws to win by nine and cover the spread.
Just a gut-wrenching loss if you took the Cavaliers +7.5. Two buzzer beaters and late foul added up to what will go down as one of the worst NBA betting beats of the season.