Current NBA Betting Trends
Betting trends for NBA games will be formed for individual matchups throughout the course of the season. Trends can be among the most valuable pieces of information for users. This is because trends play off of actual results from previous games. Trends do not forecast or predict the outcome of an upcoming matchup; they merely relay facts and figures over to users to review when analyzing matchups. When trying to gain an edge at US online sportsbooks, trends will have to be at the top of the list to consider, they are that important.
So, how do you use betting trends? Well, one good example of how they can be useful, despite their small sample size, is something like home/away splits in college basketball. College basketball tends to have very pronounced home and away splits, where teams will be nearly unbeatable at home but perform quite poorly on the road. Similarly in the NBA, trends such as performance against the spread can reflect how a team performs against the expectations of the people setting the odds – sometimes you can find a team with a nearly 2:1 record against the spread and that team is almost always the most surprisingly good team of the year in that sport.
NBA Betting Trends To Look At
There are several major NBA betting trends that bear examining when you are betting on an NBA game. First, you can look at performance against the spread. You can also look at matchup history. Another good trend to examine is the pace of play with regards to over/under lines. Finally, you can look at home/away splits.
Performance Against The Spread
How well a team has performed against the spread is useful, in a limited scope. A team performing well against the spread simply means that that team has outperformed what the oddsmakers thought that team would do, over the period of time tracked. It does not have predictive power, although it can indicate that teams are being underrated, at any time the oddsmakers can and do take into account previous performances, and in theory, should be able to make it so that later in the season, the spreads are more accurate on a team that surprised them early. A useful trend, but make sure you understand what it’s actually measuring.
Matchup History
Basketball is all about matchups. Who is guarding Lebron James? Who is guarding Giannis Antetokounmpo? For most teams, the answer is subpar, but what about if you’re the Los Angeles Clippers and you have Kawhi Leonard to do that job? Matchups are the key to games, and past performances against certain teams can be indicative of future ones, as long as the circumstances are similar. However, when betting on the NBA, circumstances change a lot – star players get injured, teams go on good runs and bad runs – so make sure to keep that in mind when using this trend to make bets, and do your research.
Pace Of Play
The NBA tracks the number of offensive possessions each team uses per game, and this can have an outsize effect on the score of games. After all, the fewer chances you have to score, the lower the score goes. Looking at pace of play is a good way to analyze over/under lines, and is one of the first things you should be checking when you’re wondering why that line on the Denver game is so low despite them having a good offense – it’s because they have the second-lowest pace of play in the league, nearly 8% lower than league-leading Milwaukee.
Home/Away Splits
Knowing how well a team performs at home versus on the road is crucial when betting. There are teams that simply play better when at home and are horrible on the road, while some teams actually excel on the road and struggle at home. Paying close attention to a team’s road vs. home performance can give you the edge when betting.
Best Sportsbooks For Betting On NBA Game Trends
To take advantage of betting trends in the NBA, you have got to have an online sportsbook at your disposal. Through our use and research, there is one online sportsbook for the NBA that stands above them all. That would be Bovada, which we review below.
Bovada’s odds are easily exploited by players who focus on NBA betting trends. The odds at Bovada all reflect current trends and the sportsbook sets these betting lines in direct response to the recent play. Fans who go to Bovada with this previous knowledge of the game and a good understanding of current betting trends for each team can cash out big at Bovada. Hardcore bettors chose Bovada because the stats they use can result in a major payday.