Caleb Martin is scoring double his regular-season average
While the Eastern Conference finals between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat has been a tough-to-gauge rollercoaster for bettors, one specific prop bet has only been riding high.
His name is Caleb Martin.
The Heat guard has torched the Celtics in the best-of-seven series, which is tied 3-3 with Game 7 scheduled for Monday night at TD Garden.
Martin, who averaged single digits during the regular season (9.6 points), has nearly doubled his points-per-game average in the series. He’s scoring 18.2 points on 58.3% (!) from the field and 46.2% from beyond the arc. Martin hasn’t just been Miami’s best reserve in the series, but there’s an argument to be made he’s been the team’s most consistent player — and yes, that includes Jimmy Butler.
Bettors have taken notice. After Martin eclipsed his point prop in each of the first five games, he was responsible for the most bet player prop at BetMGM before Game 6. And as he has done all series, Martin surpassed the over/under 12.5 points with relative ease as he poured in 21 points on 54% from the field while the Heat lost 104-103.
It was one of the biggest money makers for bettors at DraftKings Sportsbook, too, as revealed by the sportsbook Sunday morning.
The run of success has caused bookmakers to heighten Martin’s point prop to over/under 15.5 for Game 7. FanDuel Sportsbook also has Martin -140 to score 15 or more and +290 to score 20 or more in Game 7.
There nevertheless remains reason to be optimistic in Martin, who entered Miami’s starting lineup in Game 6 and could be in position to do so again.
Celtics-Heat is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on Monday. FanDuel currently has Boston as a 7.5-point home favorite.