NBA Endgame: Going Back to My Old School

NBA Endgame will preview Celtics-Lakers from all angles. Right now: sports betting options for the basketball historian!

If we ever thought that this 2008 series would eclipse the Lakers - Celtics rivalry from a few decades ago, Sportsbook.com is here to make us forget that. They are offering a series of prop bets on the Finals (entitled "Old School-New School") that focus on fake matchups born out of historical stats created by the 1984 series that everyone so fondly remembers. Por ejemplo:

Larry Bird (PPG Avg 27.4) +2.5
Kobe Bryant -2.5

Kurt Rambis (PPG Avg 7.1) -1.5
Luke Walton +1.5

Robert Parrish (RPG Avg 11.4) -1.5
Kevin Garnett +1.5

There are two problems with these types of wagers. One, if you bet on any of them in order to seriously make money and not just because they're fun, well, the first problem is yours. But that's an entirely different issue. (No, seriously. If you are risking bankruptcy because you think Luuuuke is a 'lock' to score six a game, call someone.)

The real problem is that when you start looking at these stats, you realize how measty the lineups from back in the day were. For instance, you can take Magic Johnson's Game 3 assist total (21) at +0.5 ... but you're betting against the entire Lakers team. For the entire series no less.

Or, alternately, you can take KG's highest single game rebound total for the entire series at +7.5 ... because it is matched up against Bird's 21 boards from Game 4. And if you want to bet against Magic's average assist total for the series (13.6) you get to take Kobe's assists and rebounds and tack on 2.5 to that number.

None of this is to belittle the current series that promises to be great. And restore the NBA's tradition and popularity and all of that. But if you expect a 20-20 series out of Kevin Garnett (and maybe it's not out of the question) ... well, actually you should be using these to make money.