Betting Tips on How to Basketball

The sports world is getting more interesting as we are dealing with players missing games due to health and safety protocol as well as injuries. That makes betting on games just that much more difficult, but today, we are going to dive into a few tips on how to beat the sportsbooks when it comes to the NBA and why it is important. 

With sports betting becoming legalized on a state-by-state basis, it will be important to keep track of the sports betting news and be prepared for a successful betting career.

Bet Early

The earlier you can attack the slate, the better it is going to be if you are betting on the spread. There has been a lot of data that suggests if you beat the closing line (betting the Brooklyn Nets -3 early and the line closing at the Brooklyn Nets -5), your percentage of winning increases. 

Knowing which teams the public is going to hammer also helps here as the public loves the marquee names like the Los Angeles Lakers. They can theoretically make a late push to drive the lineup and make an earlier selection more valuable if you were targeting the Lakers as a potential bet. Attacking the line earlier and taking advantage of changes in the spread will make your betting career last a lot longer. 

Understanding Injuries

There are only five players on the court at one time for each team, so that means each player is going to have a greater impact on the game than they would in other sports. The sportsbooks usually reflect this in their lines before the typical “Woj Bomb” would drop on social media, so pay attention to what the betting lines are telling us.

Understanding how coaches like to implement rest is also a critical point. Some coaches (like New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau) have a reputation for pushing their players to go and play hard every single game while other coaches (like San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) will implement rest days and load manage their significant players throughout the season. Pay attention to what they are telling the local media because they typically will come out and reference resting a player before doing so.

Take Advantage of Live Betting

Basketball has a lot of ebbs and flows throughout the game, as this truly is a game of runs. That means the odds throughout the game are going to swing drastically depending on when you place a live wager. The best time to typically make a live wager is during a commercial break because the numbers will be stagnant due to no play going on.

I bet mostly throughout the actual game since you get a chance to see how some players are performing and can understand if someone is going to be buried on the bench due to foul trouble or is simply getting a day off. You also get to see rotations for the game, and that could be the most valuable of all.

If you are betting on the Brooklyn Nets and see that Steve Nash is letting James Harden play with the bench unit while Kevin Durant (and eventually Kyrie Irving) are on the bench, that makes Brooklyn a more attractive bet as the threat of scoring is always on the court with a superstar. Knowing that piece of information will typically influence your sway and make you bet better. 

Knowing how in-game injuries occur also helps. If you bet on the Toronto Raptors and Pascal Siakam goes down with an injury early in the first quarter that will keep him out of the game, you will see the betting markets adapt, and you jumping on it early will make you a lot of money in the future.