Two hours of free money: How bettors took advantage of Nets-Celtics opening series odds

For roughly two hours, late Tuesday night at Caesars Sportsbook, the seventh-seeded Brooklyn Nets were favored to defeat the second-seeded Boston Celtics in their first-round playoff series.

Caesars installed the Nets as -135 favorites to win the series, shortly after Brooklyn beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA play-in tournament. The Celtics opened at +115 underdogs but those prices wouldn't last long.

Oddsmakers at other sportsbooks were confused by Caesars' early numbers and instead made the Celtics the favorites. Boston opened as high as a -150 favorite at the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, with the Nets +135 underdogs. Savvy bettors smelled opportunity.

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It's often a cliché in the betting community, but for roughly two hours Tuesday, from 9:45 p.m. until around midnight, there was indeed free money to be had. At Caesars, bets poured in on the Celtics at plus-money, while at the SuperBook, and other shops that had opened with Boston as the favorite, bettors pounded the Nets at plus-money. If you bet $1,000 on the Celtics at +115 at Caesars and $1,000 on the Nets at +135 at the SuperBook, you locked in a minimum of $150 profit, for example. [Editor's note: ESPN has a partnership with Caesars Sportsbook.]

By midnight, the odds at Caesars had moved considerably toward Boston. On Wednesday morning, after the initial flurry of action on the Celtics had subsided, the sportsbook reported that 98% of the money that had been wagered on the series was on Boston. On the other hand, at the SuperBook, 95% of the money that had been wagered on the series was on the Nets.

The market has settled with the Celtics as consensus -145 favorites. Boston is a 4-point