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NBA Finals betting: Giannis is now the favorite for MVP after Game 4 win

We have a new favorite for NBA Finals MVP at BetMGM.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has taken the mantle from Chris Paul after the Milwaukee Bucks won Game 4 of the Finals 109-103 on Wednesday night and tied the series at 2-2. The win was boosted in the final minutes by a potentially iconic block from Antetokounmpo on an alley-oop attempt from Devin Booker to Deandre Ayton. Antetokounmpo was sliding over to guard Booker’s drive to the lane and changed direction as the ball was in the air to meet Ayton at the rim and deny the dunk.

The win and the play have put Antetokounmpo at +145 to win Finals MVP. That’s a significant improvement from the +240 he was ahead of Game 4.

Paul isn’t even the No. 2 favorite either. That status goes to Booker, who is now at +160 to win the award. Booker had a monster game in the loss on Wednesday and his odds moved from +600. Booker had 42 points on 17-of-28 shooting from the field in just over 38 minutes.

Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, scored 26 points and had 14 rebounds and eight assists as the Bucks evened the series.

Paul’s odds were -160 ahead of Game 4 and are now at +260. Paul had five turnovers in the loss on Wednesday night and has 15 turnovers over the last three finals games. That’s become a problem for the Suns after they excelled these playoffs in large part because of Paul’s ability to avoid turnovers. He entered Game 2 of the Finals with 14 turnovers combined in his previous eight playoff games.

BetMGM won’t be unhappy if Paul doesn’t win Finals MVP. Over 20% of wagers are on Paul to win and 39% of the handle — the total money wagered on MVP — is on Paul. Approximately 12% of the money wagered is on Booker — despite over 19% of tickets being placed on him — and 25.3% of the handle is on Antetokounmpo.

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