Aussie Bloke's Nightmare Day On The Punt After LA Lakers Blow $228,000 Bet

One Aussie punter might want to have a break from betting on the NBA for a while.

In the wake of the Los Angeles Lakers' Game 3 Western Conference Final clash with the Denver Nuggets, details surrounding a mega-money bet slowly began to emerge online.

And if you watched the game itself, you can probably imagine how this story pans out.

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Whether he was a massive Lakers fan or just fancied his chances, one punter placed a bet of $228,733 on LeBron James and Co to win at $1.38 with popular sports betting company TAB.

If he won, the keen punter would take home a profit of $86,918 - not too bad.

The Lakers were favourites to go 3-0 against the Nuggets, by Jamal Murray made sure that wasn't going to happen.

The 23-year-old dropped 28 points and 12 assists to single-handedly dragged his team kicking and screaming to a miraculous victory over the star-studded Lakers.

But as early as half time, the punter had an opportunity to cash out on his bet.

The Nuggets were leading by 10 points after two quarters of play, meaning the bloke cashed out and took the $97,624 that TAB had offered and placed another bet instead.

This time on Denver to win at -9.5.

This meant that the Nuggets had to win by 10 points in order for the punter to cash in on his bet.

But unfortunately for the gambling man, that didn't quite happen.

The Nuggets actually extended their lead to 20 points by the end of the third quarter but the Lakers pulled things back in the final 12 minutes of the game.

You can just imagine the punter would have been squirming in his seat watching this all unfold.

With 10 seconds left in the game, the Nuggets still held a 10-point lead - meaning the big-cash bet was still in play.

But incredibly, a shot clock violation gave possession back to the Lakers with 5.4 seconds to go.

That's when Lakers guard Alex Caruso stepped in.

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Instead of holding onto the ball in the dying embers of the game, Caruso drove towards the basket for a simple lay up with 1.6 seconds remaining on the clock.

That move alone meant the score finished 114-106 therefore ruining the punter's bet.

Brutal.

Absolutely brutal.

TAB's Trent Langskaill spoke to news.com.au. after the round of action, perhaps summing it up best: "A really tough day for the punter in question."

Topics: NBA, LA Lakers, lebron james, Australia

Max Sherry

Max Sherry is a journalist for SPORTbible Australia. After migrating Down Under from London as a teenager, he instantly fell in love with Aussie sport and its culture. From NRL to AFL, cricket to rugby — you name it, Max watches it (with a beer in hand, of course). During his time at Fox Sports, he worked in the football department covering the Premier League, A-League, Socceroos and Matildas. Born a stone's throw away from West Ham's training ground, Max is obviously a die-hard Liverpool fan.

@maxysherry