Daily Sports Betting Preview 9/24/2020: NBA, UEFA Super Cup, ATP Hamburg

• The Denver Nuggets are six-point underdogs on the spread against the Los Angeles Lakers.
• Bayern Munich have -275 odds to defeat Sevilla in the UEFA Supercup.
• Casper Ruud is favored against the higher ranked Fabio Fognini in ATP Hamburg action.

LAS VEGAS - Today’s Daily Sports Betting Preview features three very interesting sports betting opportunities.

First, in the NBA, the Denver Nuggets look to even the series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Then, the UEFA Super Cup pits Bayern Munich against Sevilla. Finally, Casper Ruud takes on Fabio Fognini as ATP Hamburg continues.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

NBA Betting

A sublime performance from Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic saw the Denver Nuggets pick up their first win in the Western Conference Finals.

The series is now 2-1, so all Denver has to do to lock it up, of course, is lose another game - the whole world knows what happens when Denver is down 3-1.

Joking aside, the Lakers are not the Clippers or the Jazz, and they seem as much a threat as ever to win the NBA Championship.

Denver could even the series tonight, but they are not favored to do so.

On the moneyline, the Nuggets are notable underdogs, which makes a wager on them fairly interesting. They’ve shown the ability to win against elite teams, and it took an elite shot from Anthony Davis to win Game 2.

In other words, there’s a pretty plausible world where the Denver Nuggets are up 2-1 in this series right now.

These inferences also mean that a wager on the Nuggets spread isn’t out of line either.

The series has genuinely been fairly even so far in terms of on-court play, and the Nuggets are still notable underdogs.

This means that the likely place for NBA betting followers to exploit the lines is on their side of them.

UEFA Super Cup Betting

The UEFA Super Cup pits several excellent teams against each other over the coming days, and today’s matchup is no exception.

Bayern Munich may well be the best team on the planet. They won the treble last season - their domestic league, domestic cup, and the Champions League.

With such a small gap between this season and last season due to COVID-19, there might actually be more continuity within the team than in a normal year.

Today, this titan of German football faces off against Sevilla, by all rights the underdog in this matchup.

Sevilla won the Europa league, which means that this matchup is between the Champions League and Europa League winners.

It would be a massive upset for Sevilla to win this match given the power that Bayern can bring to bear.

Bayern have -275 odds to defeat Sevilla in this match, which honestly should come as no surprise.

The German side has everything going for them - a short layoff period, relative squad continuity, and a high level of play before the Super Cup started.

However, a small layoff is still a layoff, and Bayern may have deteriorated a bit. That said, they had a similar layoff between the end of their season and the Champions League, and that didn’t seem to slow them down at all.

The spread sees Bayern as a favorite by 1.5 goals, which is fair enough, but considering how favored they are on the moneyline, it’s hard not to look at this as a bit generous to Sevilla.

Soccer bettors will have to parse the meaning out of these lines before wagering on them.

ATP Hamburg Betting

ATP Hamburg continues today, with the round of 16 bringing a matchup between Casper Ruud and Fabio Fognini.

Fognini, the sixth seed in this tournament, enters the matchup as a mild underdog. Ruud, ranked 15 spots below Fognini on the ATP Tour, seems to be favored in the matchup despite this.

So, why is this? Well, for one thing, Ruud is a monster on clay courts, boasting a 42-22 record in his career so far.

Meanwhile, Fognini might not be at full capacity - he’s recovering from arthroscopic ankle surgery on both ankles.

With all of this taken into account, this matchup seems decidedly in favor of Ruud.

This matchup should also serve as an object lesson in not simply trusting the rankings - knowledge of individual players tendencies, injuries, and matchups can be useful for tennis bettors as well.

Happy Betting!