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PrintThere are all kinds of ways to monitor the ebbs and flows of a seven-game series in the NBA Playoffs.
After the Miami Heat’s Game 2 loss that surrendered home-court advantage to the upstart Indiana Pacers, the storyline might as well be a word-for-word replica at every major media outlet (including Sports Illustrated, ESPN and Yahoo!, just to name a few.)
LeBron James isn’t clutch. The Heat are soft. Miami is in trouble without Chris Bosh.
One of my favorite ways to gauge the pulse of a series, however, is through the series prices.
Before Game 1 on Sunday:
Before Game 2 on Tuesday:
And now, after Miami’s Game 2 loss:
That’s quite the drop after only one loss. Earlier on Wednesday morning, I tweeted that the Heat were -400 to win the series when the odds first came out. It’s been bet all the way down to -290.
The story behind this series price isn’t about one game, though. It’s about Bosh’s absence, and how we’re quickly becoming aware that Miami’s rag-tag group of big men never learned anything resembling that part of basketball called a “post move.”
Are LeBron James and Dwyane Wade good enough on their own to win this series without Bosh? Yes. (Probably.)
But those with money on the line are thinking the Pacers have a much better chance than we’re giving them credit for.
