When we sat back and watched the UConn Huskies win, and cover, game after game during March Madness there were mutterings from players betting against them that they'd never do this again. We had never seen a run quite like that and a covering machine like the Huskies and maybe would never see that again.
But, bettors didn't have to wait for long before we have now begun to see something similar. The Minnesota Timberwolves are the new covering machine. Unlike the Huskies the TWolves have been covering as underdogs as well as favorites. Minnesota was a perfect 6-0 entering the weekend against the spread to open the NBA playoffs. They have been a decided underdog in the first two games of their series against the Nuggets and won both games outright as well. Then they went home and dropped game 3 as a favorite, so perhaps the underdog role is more suited for this young team.
Minnesota is a very unlikely ticket casher. This team ended the regular season just 3-7 against the spread in their final 10 games. They were also +140 to win the series against Denver and even +105 after winning game 1. Continuing this trend would go against every logical bettors mentality but this is like roulette. There is always the player who walks up to a roulette wheel after seeing 8,9 or 10 black spins in a row and puts a wad of cash down on red because "it's due". Then there is the player who just keeps riding the streak. For the rest of their playoff games bettors will have to decide which side of the streak they want to be on.