For anyone who regularly watches basketball, you’ll know first-hand just how exciting the game can be. It’s a ridiculously fast-paced sport, and one that can give you all the chances that you need to land a victorious bet. Whether you are betting on the European basketball scene or you prefer the NBA, you’ll find that our basketball betting tips can be useful to you either way.
If you intend to get into the spirit of betting on basketball, though, we recommend you try and get used to working with the following basketball betting tips to improve your game.
Don’t rely on in-play betting
A major mistake that many basketball betters make is that they put all of their focus into in-play betting. Not only is this a bad idea because of how quickly basketball can turn, but the odds aren’t often too keenly put in your favour.
We recommend that you look to use in-play betting only when you are doing smaller bets – don’t have your full game built around in-play betting. Live betting is often an easy way to see your bet evaporate seconds within being placed. When you can, avoid using this form of betting.
In-play betting, though, can be useful when…
You see a big favourite losing and there are still 10-20 minutes left. If you spot a big name surprisingly losing then you should place a bet on them to come back from the brink. Most of the time, teams only need a short period of time – even a few minutes – to come up with the points they need to overwhelm an underdog.
While basketball is a very competitive sport, it’s also a sport where big teams have the talent to turn a poor performance around in a blink of the eye. It’s why you should look to either back a losing favourite or put down a points total score that sees them win by just a few points.
Big teams are at their most valuable when they are losing, so if you are going to bet in-play make sure it’s on a faltering giant. You’ll make a much more solid return doing this.
These are the bookmakers that offer the best in-play betting experience:
Make the most of spread betting
A good way to make the most of basketball betting opportunities is to use spread betting. Spread betting often delivers great odds. You basically back one team to win by a margin of X. so, if you were to bet on GSW to win by 5.5 then you need them to win by 6 points or more. This is a tremendously fun betting solution, though, and tends to be good for you if you are looking to make your bets stick without much issue.
They are good for making sure you can also bet more on the end score and the deficit as much as anything else in particular. You can throw together a few spread bets in minutes, coming up with some very interesting and thought-provoking spreads with the chance for high returns.
These are the best bookmakers online which offer interesting spread betting:
Cover the underdog as much as you can
Basketball is one of the most competitive sports around, meaning that favourites aren’t always as likely to win as the numbers likely to suggest. Make sure that you get to grips wit betting on the underdog. Teams with an underdog rating of +12 points is always worth a look. Yes, they are underdogs for a reason – but having a small bet on an underdog can often cover the rest of your betting for the evening.
It’s a big reason why so many people look to bet on the favourite – they see it as a ‘no brainer’. However, that really is not the case at all. If you want to make basketball betting work for you as opposed to against you, then you should definitely look to cover the underdog as often as you can. They win in basketball a lot more than they can in other sports.
Looking for the best underdog odds on basketball? Take a look at these bookies:
Points totals are a good bet
One of the best ways to have some fun with basketball betting is to always have a few total score cards on the go. With basketball games ranging from anything from 160-220 points per game, you can come up with high scores which are actually quite realistic.
Basketball totals are something you should be looking at if you want to get a more methodical, statistical approach to your betting. Look at a team’s points average over the last 10-20 games and see if you notice a pattern. Most of the time, teams will be carrying a particular points average that can give you a good idea of what they are actually like.
So, try and look at a team over a period of team above 10 games when you can. This can give you a good idea of whether or not their high points margins are a blip or part of their consistent norm.