NBA Handicapping Articles

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.

NBA Handicapping: Just how bad are the Bucks?
by Trevor Whenham - 2/6/2014

The Milwaukee Bucks are absolutely terrible. They made the ridiculous preseason claim that they were going to make the playoffs, yet they are now unquestionably the worst team in the NBA. Given just how bad the Eastern Conference is this year, that’s really saying something. They had just one win in all of January, and that came against Detroit, so it hardly counts. So, what has gone wrong? And how should we be viewing them as bettors? Here are seven factors to consider:

NBA Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 2/4/2014

Most teams will hit the 50-game mark this week, so it's time to look at some playoff odds that were released Tuesday by Bovada. Obviously it's important to take these with a grain of salt because a few teams on this list could look rather different after the Feb. 20 trade deadline.

NBA Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 1/28/2014

Clearly the NBA game of the week to circle on the schedule is Wednesday's Oklahoma City at Miami showdown, a matchup I certainly expect to see again in June -- sorry Pacers and Spurs -- unless injury sidetracks one of the teams. The Heat are +200 favorites on Sportsbook.ag to win a third straight NBA title while Oklahoma City is the third favorite at +550 (Pacers +220).

NBA Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 1/21/2014

Could this be the week that the New York Knicks finally do what seems inevitable and fire Coach Mike Woodson? I would have to think the Knicks are approaching the last straw with Woodson. They have lost four straight games (0-4 ATS) entering Wednesday's home matchup with Philadelphia.

NBA Handicapping: Surprising Results from Bulls Lately
by Trevor Whenham - 1/16/2014

The storyline is supposed to be obvious. After losing former MVP Derrick Rose for another year and then seeing Luol Deng traded away for nothing but payroll relief, this should be a team that is in the gutter. Their will should be crushed, and they should be just going through the motions. That’s what would make sense, but it is not what is happening.

NBA Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 1/14/2014

Perhaps the only team more upset than New Orleans about the news that Pelicans power forward Ryan Anderson will miss at least two more months this season would be the Philadelphia 76ers. You see, New Orleans looked moderately like a playoff team when healthy. Since Anderson went down with a herniated disc in his back, which may or may not need surgery after two months of rest, the Pelicans have lost six straight games, failing to score in triple-digits in five of them.

NBA Handicapping: How to Bet the Lakers
by Trevor Whenham - 1/14/2014

The Lakers. Just saying their name, depending on your long-term view of the team, either makes you break down in tears or cackle with boundless glee. They are a total circus. A mess. A disaster. A farce. You could call it a tragedy and feel sorry for them if their fate wasn’t entirely of their own doing. The fat cats have exploded. So, is this dip into patheticness just something temporary that they can shake off in the coming weeks? Or is it going to endure through the rest of the season and beyond? And what does that mean for bettors?

Free NBA Picks: Lakers at Clippers Odds
by Aaron Smith - 1/9/2014

The Lakers and Clippers will square off at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Friday night, but the teams won’t look all that familiar. Both teams are dealing with major injuries. Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul will both be in street clothes for this one. That takes away some of the luster from this game, but this is always a spirited battle. ESPN will televise this game nationally on Friday night.

NBA Handicapping: Bad Teams that have been Good for Bettors
by Trevor Whenham - 1/8/2014

There are a lot of bad teams in the NBA right now, and the gap between the good teams and the bad ones is very large. For the general public it can be very easy to ignore these bad teams. They aren’t watchable and they get little media attention, so they easily fade from the public mind. While the public is probably smart to ignore bad teams, bettors shouldn’t automatically cast them aside.