NBA Handicapping Articles

NBA Picks: Knicks at Heat Odds and Betting Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 12/6/2012

Before I preview this Thursday’s TNT opener between New York and Miami, I want to address the San Antonio Spurs and coach Gregg Popovich’s decision to send Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green home before the team traveled to Miami for last Thursday’s TNT game. You can argue whether Pop had the right to do whatever he wanted with his own team. I lean toward yes, but if I was a Spurs fan in South Florida and bought a $200 ticket I would of course be furious. As would I if I were a TNT executive or an advertiser who bought time during the game.

NBA Betting Trends: Hot and Cold Teams Against the Point Spread
by Aaron Smith - 11/30/2012

The NBA season is a long grind, and teams go through many hot and cold periods throughout the year. Keeping track of the hot teams and cold teams can help you stay ahead of the curve when betting on the NBA. Doc’s Sports will be presenting an NBA Hot and Cold Report this year to help you stay ahead of the game. Please note that statistics in this initial report are from games played between Nov. 15 and Nov. 28.

NBA Handicapping: Los Angeles Lakers Struggles
by Trevor Wenham - 11/29/2012

It’s early yet, but 7-8 is definitely not where the Lakers were supposed to be after 15 games. Not after they had invested so heavily in Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in the offseason to create their Big Four to overshadow Miami’s Big Three.

NBA Picks: San Antonio at Miami Odds and Betting Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 11/28/2012

Let me say this right up front: I won’t always be doing the supposed “glamour” matchup in this year’s Thursday NBA on TNT preview stories. If I do, that means you are stuck with the same teams each week: Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, etc. This is, after all, a betting site, so if there’s a less attractive matchup that offers better value for bettors, I am going to lean that way in these previews.

NBA Handicapping: ATS Studs and Duds
by T.O. Whenham - 11/28/2012

It seems like the NBA season only just began, but we are already about 20 percent of the way through. That means that the sample size is now big enough that we can look at which teams have done well in covering spreads, which ones have struggled, and what we might learn from that. Here are the ATS studs and duds from the first month of the NBA season:

NBA Futures Betting: Updated Odds to Win Conference
by Dave Schwab - 11/27/2012

The 2012-13 NBA regular season is just about a month old. This makes it a good time to take a look how a few teams’ early play on the court has affected Bovada’s original odds for their chances to win their respective conference.

Handicapping the Worst NBA Teams
by T.O. Whenham - 11/21/2012

There is a dogfight atop the NBA right now, with several teams fighting to prove that they are elite contenders that have what it takes to go all the way in the playoffs. At the opposite end of the spectrum there are teams that are in a far more pathetic but almost as crowded fight to determine which team is absolutely the worst in the league — and will have the most ping pong balls in the draft lottery hopper as reward for their ineptness. So, which team is worst in the NBA right now? Let’s take a look:

NBA Handicapping: Top Rookies Thus Far
by T.O. Whenham - 11/20/2012

We’re only about 10 games into the NBA season, so it is far too soon to judge rookies and the impact they have had on their teams — and the impact they should have on bettors as a result. Just because it’s too early, though, doesn’t mean we won’t do it. Here’s a look at the highlights (and one lowlight) of the current crop of NBA rookies so far:

NBA Picks: Brooklyn at LA Lakers Predictions and Betting Odds
by Alan Matthews - 11/19/2012

By all accounts, the Mike D’Antoni Era will begin with the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night when they host the Brooklyn Nets. D'Antoni was hoping to debut on Sunday against the Houston Rockets, but the coach pushed it back because he is not fully recovered from recent knee replacement surgery. D’Antoni is officially “day-to-day,” and I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I have ever given injury status on a coach. Maybe the Lakers should have just hired interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff, as he has led the team to a 4-1 mark since replacing the fired Mike Brown. D’Antoni has been running practices.

NBA Betting Trends: Hot and Cold Teams Against the Point Spread
by Aaron Smith - 11/16/2012

In the NBA, the betting trends are definitely a bettor’s best friend. The NBA season is a long grind, and teams go through many hot and cold periods throughout the year. Doc’s Sports will be presenting an NBA Hot and Cold Report this year to help you stay ahead of the game in the NBA. Please note that statistics in this initial report are from games played between the beginning of the season and Nov. 14.

NBA Picks for Thursday: Heat at Nuggets Odds and Betting Picks
by Alan Matthews - 11/14/2012

Back-to-backs in the NBA are never easy, but the Miami Heat have an especially tricky one Thursday night. The Heat had to play the athletic, very good L.A. Clippers at Staples Center on Wednesday night before visiting Denver on Thursday. The Nuggets always have an advantage at home because of the altitude and even more so in a quick turnaround game.

Betting Impact of Mike D’Antoni Hire by Lakers
by T.O. Whenham - 11/13/2012

I woke up this morning sure I was going to be writing an article about the hiring of Phil Jackson in L.A. and the betting impact that would have on the Lakers going forward. Imagine my surprise, then, to be writing instead about new boss Mike D’Antoni.

NBA Betting Surprises
by T.O. Whenham - 11/13/2012

The NBA season is still very young. It seems that this year, even more than most, has been very active and very educational, though. No matter how prepared you are heading into the season there will inevitably be surprises as the season gets underway. Here are six of the biggest NBA Betting surprises for me of this season so far:

NBA Picks for Thursday TNT: Oklahoma City at Chicago Predictions and Odds
by Alan Matthews - 11/7/2012

Almost 80 percent of the Chicago Bulls’ games were on national television last year. Not a surprise considering the Bulls had the league’s reigning MVP and had won the most games in the NBA in 2010-11. This year, less than 33 percent of Chicago’s games will be nationally televised, and that’s 100 percent due to the injury of Derrick Rose.

NBA Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 11/5/2012

I realize the new NBA season is just a week old, but is it time to worry about the two Western Conference favorites? The defending conference champion Thunder are 1-2 following Sunday’s 104-95 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks, who were playing without star forward Josh Smith because of a sprained right ankle. Of course the Thunder made the stunning trade on the eve of the season, sending James Harden to Houston (more on him in a minute).

Four Important Storylines Heading into the 2012-13 NBA Season
by George J Monroy - 10/30/2012

The NBA season is finally here. NBA junkies will get a full 82-game, six-month regular season. Most fans do not begin to pay attention to the NBA until after Christmas, but for those sports bettors that are salivating at the thought of spending the next three months with a full plate of NFL, NCAAF and NBA games to bet on, here is a quick look at four of the biggest storylines heading into the season.

2012-13 NBA MVP Odds and Betting Predictions
by George J Monroy - 10/30/2012

The NBA MVP award can be extremely subjective during certain years. NBA sportswriters and media members get to decide who the most valuable player is, and while there are no set criteria on what ‘most valuable’ actually means, some players have more of an inside track than others.

NBA Odds and Predictions: Celtics at Heat Betting Picks
by Alan Matthews - 10/29/2012

It’s the first NBA preview of the new season, and you can’t ask for a much better opener than when Boston visits Miami in a rematch of last season’s epic Eastern Conference Finals series. Boston looked in command of that series with a 3-2 lead heading into Game 6 in Boston, but LeBron James had one of the great playoff games in history with 45 points (19-for-26 from the field), 15 rebounds and five assists as Miami blew out the Cs 98-79 to force a Game 7 back in South Florida.

2012-13 NBA Predictions: Atlantic Division Preview and Betting Odds
by Aaron Smith - 10/29/2012

Many divisions in the NBA have clear-cut favorites, but the Atlantic Division will be among the most competitive in the league. The Heat will win the Southeast and the Lakers will win the Pacific. The Atlantic Division has no such big favorite that will run away with the division. The Celtics had a bit of a rocky ride last year, but they were still good enough to top the division. The Knicks had team chemistry issues, and they barely squeaked into the playoffs. Philadelphia was a nice surprise, and the 76ers played great in the playoffs.

2012-13 NBA Predictions: Southwest Division Preview and Betting Odds
by Ricky Dimon - 10/23/2012

The story of the NBA’s Southwest Division in 2012-13 is the old trying to hold off the young. One of those “young” teams, Memphis, has already broken onto the scene. Can the Grizzlies go one step further and overtake San Antonio as the cream of the crop? One of those “old” teams, Dallas, has seemingly started a descent. Can Dirk Nowitzki return from injury and lead the Mavericks back to the playoffs?