NBA Betting: NBA Best and Worst
By Tom Grassi
Sportspic.com
As this lockout shortened season is now in its second month we take a look at some of the best NBA teams to wager on and the ones that have cost us money and some special situation wagering.
The best team thus far to place a wager on has been Philadelphia. The Sixers have started out the season with an impressive 17-7 against the spread record. They’re been big time money earners at home with a 10-3 ATS record and on the road they are 7-4 ATS. They’ve also been a good team to bet under the total with a 15-9 under mark.
The second best team against the betting line has been the Denver Nuggets. Coach Karl’s team stands at 15-9 against the betting line. An interesting note about the Nuggets is that they’ve made all their money on the road. Denver is a very impressive 7-2 against the spread playing away from home while only 8-7 ATS at home.
Not a big surprise has the Bobcats as the worst team in the NBA so far this season with an 8-16 against the spread record. They are pretty much equally bad on the road as they are at home. Playing in Charlotte they are 3-7 ATS and away from Charlotte are 5-9 ATS.
Right behind Charlotte is both Detroit and Washington. The Pistons are 9-16 ATS while the Wizards are 8-16 ATS. Detroit is a great team to play against on the road as they are a woeful 4-9 against the betting line losing by an average margin of 12 points per game. Washington has also been bad on the road with a 3-8 ATS record with their average margin of defeat of ten points.
For you over/under bettors this has been an under year with 57% of the games going under the posted total. Of the 30 NBA teams, only 7 of them have played more over games than under games. Two are dead even, and the remaining 21 teams have played more under games than over games.
The two teams with the most lopsided total records are the Knicks and Raptors. Both of those teams are 17-7 under the posted total. The Knicks have been unable to score points on the road this season as they are an amazing 11-1 under the total away from New York. The average over/under in those 12 games posted by the Sportsbooks was 195 points and the average points scored is 185 points. Playing the Knicks under on the road has been easy money!
As we talk about scoring, or the lack thereof this season, one interesting wager that you may want to look at is first quarter betting. How would you handicap first quarter betting? You find the teams that score a lot of points in the first quarter. The LA Clippers and Chris Paul are leading the league in first quarter scoring putting up a whopping 27 points. A team to play against in the first quarter, one that is favored many times, is Boston. The Celtics are the fourth worst team in first quarter scoring only 22 per game.