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Same Game Parlay: How a Bettor Turned $10 Into Over $10,000 With an NBA Finals SGP on DraftKings Sportsbook

Zach Thompson breaks down how a sports bettor turned $10 into a huge profit with an NBA Same Game Parlay on DraftKings Sportsbook.

By Zach Thompson Updated
2023 NBA Finals - Miami Heat v Denver Nuggets Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

The NBA Finals tipped off on Thursday, and there were plenty of ways to get a piece of the action on DraftKings Sportsbook. For each game, there are a host of options to consider, including picks against the spread, straight-up selections and props for specific player results. There are also multiple ways to stack those picks into a Same Game Parlay.

One bettor used that strategy in Game 1 and built an epic SGP made up of 10 legs. With a 100% stepped up profit boost, the parlay of 10 correct picks resulted in a bet of just $10 into a huge payout of $10,010!

Here are the 10 picks that were combined into this SGP, and you can scroll down for a full analysis of how Game 1 went down to make each one of these picks go green.

  • DEN Nuggets -8.5
  • Jimmy Butler Under 25.5 Points
  • Bam Adebayo 18+ Points
  • Nikola Jokic Under 28.5 Points
  • Jamal Murray Under 26.5 Points
  • Michael Porter Jr. Under 15.5 Points
  • Aaron Gordon Over 12.5 Points
  • Caleb Martin Under 14.5 Points
  • Bam Adebayo Over 8.5 Rebounds
  • Nikola Jokic Under 13.5 Rebounds

Check out Stepped Up Same Game Parlays on DraftKings Sportsbook for big profit boosts! The more legs in the parlay, the bigger the boost! See the Stepped Up Same Game Parlays page for more details!

Before we dive in, let’s cover some level-setting terms. A Parlay Bet is a bet placed on multiple outcomes to occur. A Parlay Bet cashes when all outcomes within the parlay are selected correctly. Multiple outcomes from a single game can be combined into a Same Game Parlay like this one. You can learn more about how they work in the DraftKings Sportsbook How To Bet Guide!

This bettor artfully blended overs and unders in this parlay. It’s easy to get caught up into thinking everything will go over, but this bettor saw several places where under was the right play. In fact, there were six under picks and three over picks along with a pick against the spread.

The unders in this parlay included several related to the top stars in the series. On the Miami side, the bettor picked Jimmy Butler under 25.5 points and Caleb Martin under 14.5 points. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Butler averaged 24.7 points per game with over 25.5 points four times. Martin averaged 19.3 points in that series against the Celtics while scoring over 14.5 points in six of seven games.

Game 1 didn’t follow that script for Butler and Martin, though. Martin struggled, shooting only 1-of-7 from the field and finishing with just three points. Butler had a much better scoring game but also fell well short of his over/under. He had seven points in the first quarter but didn’t score again before halftime. After four points in the third quarter, he only added two points in the fourth quarter to finish with 13 points.

This parlay also counted on a somewhat down game from superstar Nikola Jokic. Jokic had to stay under 28.5 points and under 13.5 rebounds. Even though he played all 12 minutes in the first quarter, he was well behind pace for both numbers since almost all his production came from facilitating his teammates. He had four points, one rebound and six assists and then added four more assists to get to a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists by halftime. He only had three rebounds, though, so was still behind pace on everything but his assists, highlighted in the tweet below.

More importantly, Denver had a pretty comfortable lead, so Jokic didn’t have to be super-aggressive in the second half. By the end of the third quarter, he had 15 points and nine rebounds, and things were getting tight. In the fourth quarter, Jokic played 9:30 but only grabbed one rebound to finish with 10 boards.

Where the Joker got very close to ending this parlay was with his point total. He got up to 19 points before taking a quick break, but the Heat made the game close enough to force him to check back in with just under five minutes. He immediately took over the game and scored eight points, bringing his total to 27 points by hitting a fadeaway with 1:02 remaining. He took one more shot with about 30 seconds left, and if it had gone in, this parlay would have been over. However, he missed that shot, so he stayed under both his points and rebounds total despite an impressive triple-double with 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds, as highlighted below.

The two other unders on the Nuggets side that were part of this parlay were Jamal Murray under 26.5 Points and Michael Porter Jr. under 15.5 Points. Both of those picks were correct by very narrow margins as well. Murray had 26 points and MPJ finished with 14 points. Murray actually got all the way to 26 points with 6:26 remaining. He took two more three-pointers in the game but didn’t make either one, and he also didn’t shoot any free throws in the fourth quarter.

Late in the fourth, after Jokic missed his shot with under a minute left that would have ended the parlay, Porter grabbed the rebound and also missed a tip shot that would have put him over the total and ended the parlay. On the next possession, he also had a three-pointer in the air that would have pushed him over, but that came up empty as well.

On the other end of the spectrum, the parlay included overs for Aaron Gordon’s points and Bam Adebayo’s points and rebounds. Gordon came out hot and went 6-for-8 in the first quarter with 12 points. He made the layup in the highlight below with 2:30 left before halftime to hit the over, and then he only had two points in the whole second half.

Adebayo needed to deliver at least 18 points and at least nine rebounds. At halftime, he was off to a good start with 16 points and four rebounds. He grabbed four more rebounds in the third quarter while easily reaching the over in his points as well. In the fourth quarter, Adebayo grabbed a rebound after just 30 seconds following a Nikola Jokic miss. He added another one a moment later to reach a double-double and ultimately finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds.

The pick against the spread was the Nuggets -8.5. By the end of the first quarter, Denver had already opened up a nine-point lead. By halftime, the lead had swollen to 17 points, and at the end of the third quarter, it was 21. The Heat did go on a run in the fourth quarter, though, closing to within ten points. On a Haywood Highsmith three-pointer with 2:30 left, it was a nine-point game, but the Nuggets were able to respond and regain enough breathing room to end up winning by 11 points and covering the spread.

With the misses at the end by Jokic and Porter but the Nuggets still winning by more than nine points, this 10-round parlay hit across the board. Thanks to the profit boost, that meant this bettor claimed a huge payout of $10,010 on just a $10 bet.

You can use the spread and player props to build your own Same Game Parlay for Game 2 or for any upcoming game in the NBA Finals. You can also do the same with MLB contests, the Stanley Cup Finals or the French Open. You can even stack up your Parlays across multiple games or even multiple sports into a massive SGPx like this one. There are so many different options for every sport on DraftKings Sportsbook, and this is a great example of how to build around a variety of overs and unders on multiple player props.

Get started building your own Same Game Parlays from a wide variety of sports today!

Same Game Parlay (SGP) is available on DraftKings Sportsbook for multiple sports! To place a SGP:

  1. Find a game that has the SGP icon in the left corner.
  2. Toggle “Same Game Parlay” on. Once it’s on, all available bets will appear.
  3. Build your Same Game Parlay. Combine multiple bets from one game. The more bets you combine, the more you can win.
  4. Place your parlay. Add your Same Game Parlay to your bet slip, enter your wager amount, and submit your bet.

Read more about SGP at the DraftKings Sportsbook SGP page!

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