This Week's Best NBA Bets
Covers.com
Each week, we look back on the NBA betting scene and give you the best - and worst - basketball bets, as well as some spots to keep an eye on with the upcoming schedule.
For the week of Nov. 25 to Dec. 1.
Hottest ATS - Houston Rockets (4-0 SU, 4-0 ATS)
The Rockets have definitely kicked it into overdrive after a bit of a bumpy ride to begin the season. They are currently on a five-game winning streak and have won eight of their last nine, including 8-1 against the spread in that time. The Rockets have been a very balanced team scoring the rock with four players scoring at least 15 points per game. More importantly, Dwight Howard has looked more like the Dwight Howard of old, scoring 16.7 points per game to go along with 12.4 boards and 1.9 blocks per game. This week Houston travels to Utah take on the last place Jazz before two games at home against Phoenix and Golden State.
Coldest ATS - Toronto Raptors (0-3 SU, 0-3 ATS)
The Raptors have not been in first place in the Atlantic Division since 2007 and despite losing three games in a row and sitting at 6-10 for the season, that is exactly where they are. This is thanks to the utterly putrid basketball that is being played in the Eastern Conference right now, where only two teams have winning records. The Raptors had a chance this week to take a pseudo-strangle hold on the division, but were only able to go 1-3 in a four game home stand. It doesn't get any easier this week for the Raps as they begin a west coast road trip with stops in Golden State, Phoenix and Los Angeles to take on the Lakers.
Best Over play - Phoenix Suns (2-2 SU, 3-1 O/U)
The Suns are still one of the best teams in the NBA this ATS, but after putting a stop to the Portland Trailblazers torrid winning streak and two contests against the hapless Utah Jazz, the Suns were a great Over play last week. The Suns have become a good over play this season (10-7 O/U overall) by finding good balance on offense and defense. They are in the top half of the league when it comes to scoring at 101.7 points per game and they give up 99.7 points per game. This week, Phoenix heads to Memphis and Houston before taking on Toronto at home.
Best Under play - Charlotte Bobcats (1-3 SU, 1-3 O/U)
Not only are the 8-10 Charlotte soon-to-be-Hornets-again Bobcats, one of the most surprising teams in the NBA this season, but are roaring when it comes to hitting the Under. In addition to hitting the Under three times this week, the Bobcats are 0-9-1 O/U in their past 10 games. The Bobcats have able to accomplish this by being a very good defensive team and a pretty lousy one on offensive. They rank second and fourth in points against per game (91.4) and opposing field goal percentage (42.4) respectively and on offense they are dead last in those categories, scoring 88.6 ppg and shooting 40.7 percent from the floor.
Surveying the schedule:
The Denver Nuggets have found their groove on the offensive end of the floor during their six game winning streak. The rank in the top 10 in four major categories, including points per game, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and offensive rebounds. They are currently on game two of a six game East coast road trip, which sees them play six games in nine days. The team during that stretch with the most wins is Washington, who sit at 8-9.
NBA Betting Report
Sportspic.com
Looking at how the first two months of NBA action has panned out for sports bettors the trusted NBA Betting Database tells us the most profitable teams vs the betting line are Pacers at 12-4 against-the-number and Suns at 12-4-1. The least profitable fall to Cavaliers posting a cash draining 4-13 mark followed by Kings cashing just 3-of-14 tickets (3-10-1) on the campaign.
Overall, favorites have been a losing cause as chalks have recorded a 115-127-5 mark against-the-oddsmaker split between 74-93-3 for home faves, 41-34-2 ATS for roadies laying points. Inside those number, not all favorites can be painted with the same cash draining brush. The most profitable are Pacers posting a 6-3 record on home court, a perfect 4-0 mark when traveling. Honourable mention goes to Rockets as favorite treating backers with a 6-3-1 mark on home court, 3-1 ATS record on the road. The least profitable teams laying points are Cavaliers (0-7), Kings (0-5) and Nets (2-8).
On the other side of the equation, it's Suns leading the underdog group with a profitable 10-2 mark and as expected most gains are made on the road with desert dogs cashing 7-of-8 tickets. The Nuggets (6-3), Lakers (9-5-1), Bobcats (8-5-1) are a few other dogs with bite. You won't get much bang for the buck (pun intended) backing Milwaukee (5-10) or Knick (3-7) in an underdog roll especially in front of respective home crowds as Bucks are 2-5 in the situation, Knicks 0-3 ATS.
The NBA team that is averaging the most points per game, Rockets netting 109.4 points every time they take the floor with Bobcats at the bottom of the rung scoring a lowly 88.6 per/contest. Defensively, the Pacers lead the league surrendering a messily 85.6 per/game while Sixers are the dregs in this department allowing opponents a whopping 109.8 points/contest. No surprise Pacers are one of the better 'Under' plays (4-12 O/U) with Sixers being an 'Over' bettors dream (12-5 O/U).