All About Basketball Odds

All about basketball odds, betting lines and spreads

One of the basic elements of every team sport is the duration of the game. Basketball is one of few sports, if not the only, whose games last differently depending on the league. The NBA games and the games from some other leagues such as the Chinese CBA or the Philippines PBA are played in 4 x 12 minutes periods or a total of 48 minutes.

Basketball games in Europe or all of those that are organized by FIBA are played in 4 periods of 10 minutes or a total of 40 minutes.

It is very important to know how long a basketball game will last before you place your bet, especially if you want to bet on over/under.

Basketball odds

No basketball game can end up in a tie, meaning that every single one of them needs to have a winner. A certain percentage of basketball games finish in a tie after the regular 40 or 48 minutes. In these cases, extra periods of 5 minutes are played until one of the teams ends up as a winner of those periods.

Knowing that basketball bookmakers online offer 2-way and 3-way moneyline. In a 2-way moneyline, all you get are odds for each team’s win. In a 3-way moneyline, besides those two, you will see basketball betting odds for a tie in regulation.

When it comes to betting on quarters or halves, the 3-way moneyline is the most common since a quarter or a half can end up in a tie.

Basketball spreads

Basketball betting is known for using spreads. Calculating the spreads is something that the best online bookmakers are doing very well. The purpose of the spread in basketball betting is to give both teams an equal chance of winning by setting the spread at a certain point. What the spread will be depend on many factors such as rosters, records, recent scores, injury report schedule etc.

How to bet on basketball spread

How to bet on basketball spread will be best described by an example. So let’s assume that the Golden State Warriors are playing the Charlotte Hornets. The Warriors, as one of the best teams in the past decade would be the favorite going into this game. That will put the spread on somewhere around -9.5 points for the Warriors.

This spread means that if you place a bet on Warriors to cover the spread, they will need to win by at least 10 points. On the other hand, if you place a bet on the Hornets, your bet will be a winning one if the Hornets win the game or lose but not by more than 9 points margin.

Basketball betting lines explained

Basketball betting lines are one of the most interesting in the industry but also one of those that require attention to be understood. Basketball bettors are equally placing their bets on moneyline and spread as well as the total game points.

Over and under is one of the options a lot of players choose in basketball betting online. Setting the total point margin is similar to setting the spread. Some of the best online sportsbooks offer numerous over/under lines for a single game with different odds.

Also, there are basketball betting odds for the individual teams and their stats in the game as well as the stats of separate basketball players. Bookmakers who offer the best basketball betting odds are also offering lines for players points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, free-throw scored, three-pointers made as well as different summaries of these categories.

Before the season starts and as the season progresses, basketball betting online offers odds for the team that will win the specific championship. There are also basketball odds for the highest-scoring or the lowest-scoring quarter, which team or player would score the first points and many other basketball betting odds.

How to find the best basketball betting odds

If you are a fan of basketball betting, especially the NBA, you need to be aware that the basketball betting odds are probably the ones that move the most. Basketball seasons consist of many games and, with all due respect to the teams, not everyone is equally important for them.

This means that coaches are using time management to limit the minutes of their star players in certain games or even not play them. News about these moves is in only a couple of hours before the tip-off and the basketball odds are quickly changing.

If wondering how to bet on basketball and how to choose the best possible basketball betting odds, you need to compare the odds given by different basketball online sportsbooks.

Just like the odds, the given lines should also be compared. There are many statistical factors that influent the points spread and total point margin, and even though all online bookmakers use similar systems, there still can be many differences.

This is even more important if you bet on individual player stats since the absence of a certain player may mean more scoring opportunities for the player you want to bet on.

Which bookmaker has the best basketball odds?

Every bookmaker offers basketball betting online but the competitions and the offered lines often vary. The most popular basketball competitions such as the NBA, NCAA, EuroLeague or the FIBA World Cup or the Olympics, would be offered by every online bookmaker.

But if you want to bet on other basketball competitions like G-League, CBA, PBA or Big-Three, you will have to do your homework and find the best basketball betting odds.

Comparing the odds between different online bookies is not the only thing you need to do. In basketball betting, the given spreads and game, team or player totals should also be a subject of comparison. Basketball bookmakers online such as 1xBet, Bet Winner, 22bet, Rabona or Nomini offer most of the lines but the actual spreads or total point margins are not always the same.

Some of the basketball bookmakers online are marking the direction in which certain basketball odds are going using up and down arrows or green and red colors with the green meaning the odds are going down and the red meaning they are going up.

Tips and tricks for basketball betting odds

Basketball is a sport for which the season is very dynamic. The NBA teams play 3 to 5 games a week, often playing on back-to-back nights. It is an 82-game regular season, where the teams and the coaches face all kinds of challenges with the players and staff.

In Europe, the teams play in more than one competition. They play a domestic or regional competition, sometimes both, and also international competitions such as EuroLeague, EuroCup or the Champions League.

In such a dynamic environment, teams’ form and ambition go up and down any given game. All that influent on basketball odds and if you want to be sure you are placing your bet on the best possible options, then you need to follow all this information. Sometimes the odds are given based on the team’s record and the roster going into the following game does not look the same at all.