“I think there's a big question swirling about when Curry can be expected to be back. And I think his ankle injury is having a lingering effect on him beyond just missing the last few games. Do you want to?”
– How Drew Dincik (@whale_capper) approaches the NBA's clutch Player of the Year market, which was dominated by Stephen Curry (+170) until DeMar DeRozan (+180) recently surged Answering audience questions about.
Since it's Tuesday, Bet the EDGE is here to answer your questions.
One of the first questions came from Dan, who asked Jay (@croucherJD) and Drew (@whale_capper) about the aforementioned Clutch Player of the Year market.
“Obviously, I think where the Golden State Warriors land in the standings is a big aspect here as well. But for me, it's still very hard to wrap my head around this award. We talked about it a few weeks ago and I was like, “I don't know.” For these awards, there is little guidance on how to decide who ultimately gets to know about you. That's kind of a guess. The clutch teams that play the most minutes in clutch win the most counties, so that would be the Warriors and Bulls. Does that mean they are more in clutch, or do they just happen to be more in clutch? It's very complicated here… Can the Bulls really win the prize in the clutch?”
Bet the Edge is your daily source for sports betting.Get all the insights from Jay Croucher and Drew Dincik weekdays at 6am ET. here it is Or wherever you get your podcasts.
Croucher took a step back and defined a rather awkward award.
“This is the total points scored by a player in the last five minutes of a game when the score is within five points. That's how clutch time is defined.”
Croucher also pointed out that Total gave its thoughts on the market.
“Steph Curry is still in the lead with 165 points (despite a recent ankle injury). DeRozan is second with 147, followed by Damian Lillard, who is way down at 115…Curry? It has to be DeRozan…It's insane to root for this market…I think the market has corrected a little too much on DeRozan…I think assuming Curry comes back and he thinks Curry wins this award It looks like he wants to.”
The duo correctly pointed out that while the most clutch players are actually the ones competing for MVP, neither Nikola Jokic nor Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are candidates for the award. Still confused?
Paul asked the boys what they thought of the heated battle for the Southeastern title between the Orlando Magic (-120) and the Miami Heat (+100).
The Magic lead the Heat by a game and a half, but that lead should get bigger. They lost to the undermanned New York Knicks and the resilient but less talented Indiana Pacers last week.
Dincik has multiple tickets for the Magic to win the Southeast Regional championship for the first time since 2019. They finished that season with just 42 wins and 40 losses. This may help explain why some are now wondering if they really won this district just five years ago.
“The Magic had a chance to solve this problem,” Dincik said. “The Knicks game was the worst place for them…especially without Suggs…they need Suggs back so badly…Of all the bets I'm making right now, I'm watching the most… It's Suggs and his ability to come back that will help elevate this team as everything else goes well for them the rest of the season…with only one road game remaining in March. That game is against the Toronto Raptors. They're making the exact same trip from Orlando to Toronto to play that game. This is as good a setup as they need to get through this. I think…assuming Suggs comes back and is the player he was when he was injured.”
The passion and exasperation in Drew's voice as he sweats out his ticket is truly outstanding.
And I can't stop sweating.