NBA Handicapping Articles

NBA Odds: Thursday March 6, 2014 Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/5/2014

Only three games on the NBA schedule Thursday night, but it features four title contenders in the Heat, Spurs, Thunder and Clippers in action. The sportsbooks will have live betting on Heat-Spurs and Clippers-Lakers as those are the two TNT nationally-televised games. Here's a quick rundown of the NBA opening odds on each game.

NBA Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 3/4/2014

The NBA's MVP race is far from over, my friends. LeBron James is making darn sure of that. James had his signature game of the season on Monday night, scoring a career-high and Heat franchise record 61 points in a blowout of a Charlotte team that's pretty good defensively. It wasn't an NBA season high, however, as the Bobcats allowed 62 points to the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony earlier this season.

NBA Odds and Betting Preview for Wednesday
by Dave Schwab - 3/4/2014

The elite teams in the NBA continue to battle it out for the top spot in both the Eastern and Western Conference, but the two matchups I want to focus on for this Wednesday’s betting preview involve a couple of teams battling for a spot in the postseason.

NBA Handicapping: the Horrible Philadelphia 76ers
by Trevor Whenham - 3/3/2014

The Philadelphia 76ers are really, really bad at basketball. That’s obvious, but you can’t really overstate it at this point. Sunday night was a case in point. They lost by 11 to the Magic — a really lousy team in their own right. The saddest part, though, is that they still almost covered — Orlando was favored by 10.5. It was the second time in three games they had fallen to the Magic by 11. Before that they lost by 20 to the Bucks and by 29 to Cleveland.

NBA Handicapping Results from the NBA Buyouts
by Trevor Whenham - 3/3/2014

NBA buyout season has just ended. It was a very active time this year as teams looked to the waiver wire to get out from under annoying contracts or to beef up the rosters heading into the postseason. There were some very recognizable names involved this year. When bettors are looking at the potential betting and handicapping impacts of these buyout and signings, here are four questions to ask:

NBA Handicapping: Betting on the Miami Heat Down the Stretch
by Trevor Whenham - 2/28/2014

Earlier this year it became fashionable to question the Miami Heat. They had stumbled out of the gate this year, and were playing generally lethargic basketball. They weren’t covering spreads, and they didn’t seem to care. Dwyane Wade is a shadow of his very best, and it seemed like cracks were forming all over the NBA’s giant.

NBA Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 2/25/2014

Brazilian big man Nene isn't the biggest star on the Washington Wizards. That would be John Wall. Nene isn't even No. 2 -- that would be Bradley Beal. But the statistics show that Nene is as important to Washington as anyone, and now the Wizards' playoff hopes could be in serious jeopardy with Nene out six weeks.

NBA Finals Matchup Odds with Picks and Predictions
by George Monroy - 2/25/2014

The long grind of the NBA schedule has finally reached a point where games actually matter. Most teams have somewhere near 26 games left in the season, and for the handful of top contenders, now is the time to start fine tuning and preparing for the playoffs. The Miami Heat may have taken the first half of the season slowly, but the competitive level in the league has reached a high point, especially since the all-star break.

NBA Odds and Wednesday Handicapping and ESPN Doubleheader Betting Preview
by Dave Schwab - 2/25/2014

There are 10 games on this Wednesday’s NBA schedule as the regular season churns its way towards the end of February. The two Texas-sized matchups that I want to focus on for this NBA betting preview make up ESPN’s doubleheader for the night. First, New Orleans will be on the road against Dallas in an 8 p.m. (ET) tip, and the nightcap sends the red-hot Houston Rockets on the road to face the Los Angeles Clippers. That game is set to get underway at 10:30 p.m.

NBA Handicapping: Teams that Might be Different after All-Star Break
by Trevor Whenham - 2/19/2014

Every year in the NBA we see a handful of teams that perform significantly differently from a betting perspective after the all-star break than they did up to that point. Here are three different squads which, for very different reasons, could all fit into that group this year:

NBA Odds and Betting Preview for Wednesday
by Dave Schwab - 2/19/2014

The NBA comes off of its annual all-star break to begin the official start of the stretch run to the playoffs. While there are a number of intriguing matchups on Wednesday’s schedule, the following betting preview will take a closer look at a pair of games involving four teams jockeying for position in the muddled Eastern Conference standings.

NBA Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 2/18/2014

It's one of the biggest weeks of the NBA season but also probably the most overrated at the same time, at least these days. Of course I'm talking about the trade deadline, which is Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern. Remember when we used to see actual stars traded in season?

NBA Betting Studs and Duds Up to All-Star Break
by Trevor Whenham - 2/18/2014

As we get ready for NBA action to resume after the all-star break, now is a good time to look back at what happened from a betting perspective up to this point in the season. Here are the ATS studs and duds of the season so far and what we might be able to expect moving forward:

2014 NBA MVP Odds and Updated Betting Predictions
by George Monroy - 2/18/2014

The NBA MVP award can be a tricky end-of-the-year honor to pass out. The league does not really have a set of criteria for what ‘Most Valuable’ really means. Is it an award for the best player in the NBA? Or is it an award for the best player on the best team? Or maybe it should go to the player that puts up the best stats? If we were to use each of those questions as the basis for handing out this season’s award, we might get three different answers to the question.

NBA Handicapping: LA Clippers with Chris Paul Back
by Trevor Whenham - 2/13/2014

After 18 games out with a shoulder injury in which he was sorely missed, Los Angeles Clippers’ point guard Chris Paul has returned to the lineup. Given that he is the best player on the team and the engine that makes everything work, it obviously is a very welcome return for the team. The team went 12-6 without him, so it was far from disastrous. Four of the six losses were against the four best teams they played, though, so they just weren’t good enough without Paul to be seen as a legitimate playoff threat.

Prop Machine Offers Great Money-Making Opportunity
by Doc's Sports - 2/12/2014

When it comes to wagering on sports, the majority of the betting public tends to focus on the betting line, total line and moneyline in any particular matchup. Once you take the time to explore all the odds that sportbooks release for games, especially when it comes to the NFL and NBA, you would be amazed at the world of opportunity that exists for betting on props as the primary way to ensure a solid return on investment.

NBA Handicapping: Just How Bad is the Eastern Conference?
by Trevor Whenham - 2/12/2014

The Eastern Conference of the NBA is so weak this year that it is pathetic. That’s the storyline that has been established since the start of the year, and it is what casual bettors base a lot of their handicapping decisions on. Assumptions like this can be dangerous for bettors over the long term. If the underlying situation changes but bettors don’t adjust and just keep making the same assumptions then they can make bad betting decisions.

NBA Handicapping: How to Bet the Pistons Moving Forward without Cheeks
by Trevor Whenham - 2/12/2014

We learned something this week — everything that has gone wrong in Detroit with the Pistons was the fault of Maurice Cheeks. Or at least that is what management would like you to believe after they fired him just eight months after they had hired him. John Loyer, who was an assistant for Cheeks in Philadelphia and Portland as well as in Detroit, has been named interim coach, and he will reportedly be in charge until the end of the season. It all seems like an odd move, but then it’s the Pistons, so what can we really expect?

NBA Handicapping: Cleveland Cavaliers after GM Firing
by Trevor Whenham - 2/12/2014

On Feb. 6 the Cleveland Cavaliers fired general manager Chris Grant. You can’t call it an incorrect move, though it is far from one that will instantly fix the countless issues this mess of a franchise has. David Griffin, most recently the team’s VP of basketball operations, has been named GM, but just on an interim basis. He presumably would like the job full time, but it’s not clear yet if he is auditioning or if he is just a stopgap until a permanent GM can be picked.

NBA Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 2/11/2014

The Detroit Pistons pulled the rip cord on Coach Maurice Cheeks last week, which was somewhat surprising because it was only Cheeks' first season on the bench in Motown -- how general manager Joe Dumars is still employed is a mystery. Cheeks' 50-game stint was the fifth-shortest in the past 25 years for a coach in his first season with a team. The shortest: Jerry Tarkanian for 20 games in 1992-93 with San Antonio.