Betting the NBA Playoffs at Online Sportsbooks

The NBA regular season draws to a close this week in anticipation of its second season in the playoffs. Eight teams from the Eastern Conference and eight teams from the Western Conference take aim at this year’s world title, but in the end only one will be able to call themselves world champs.

The NBA postseason consists of four rounds of best-of- seven series that runs close to two months in length. While this sets the stage for some great action on the court for NBA fans, it also offers some tremendous opportunities for anyone looking to bet on the games at any number of offshore sportsbooks taking action on the games online.

There are a myriad of betting options on the board across all the top online books starting with a full set of NBA futures odds to win each conference as well as the NBA Championship. The great thing about betting NBA futures this season is the wide-open nature of the competition. Cleveland from the East and Golden State from the West squared off against one another the past three seasons in the title series, but a fourth meeting this year is anything but a lock given some of the other competitors in the playoff field.

With teams such as Toronto, Boston and even Philadelphia in the mix in the East, Cleveland’s path to NBA Finals is filled with potential roadblocks. Golden State’s health issues combined with Houston’s dominant play over the past few months could set the stage for the Rockets’ return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1995 when they won their second-straight world title.

Once the opening round matchups are set, the online books will release the betting odds for the series price on all eight best-of- seven tilts. Once again, there could be some great betting value in the numbers for a few of the series that could go either way. Heading into the final few games on the regular season, the battle for the No. 3 seed in the East is still up for grabs and the logjam in the West still has five teams separated by just one game in the standings.

Betting on the NBA games themselves is still the most popular way to bet on the NBA playoffs with action on the board on a nightly basis for the opening round. As the field gets whittled down
with each passing round, the drama and intensity for the remaining games continues to build. Betting lines for the spread on the sides and the total for the combined score garners most of the action for the online sportsbooks, but there is also some great value on the NBA moneylines for games in some of the tighter matchups.

As is the case with every major sports betting event, online books will also release prop bet odds for each individual game as well as for the NBA playoffs in general. There will always be some common ground with prop bet options from one book to the next. However, if you are big into betting on props it would be well worth your time to shop them across a wider selection of online betting options. Not only could the betting odds be different for a few of the common props from one book to the next, you are bound to find something unique to each book’s NBA betting board overall. Betting on props can be a great way to supplement your overall betting strategy for this year’s playoffs.

With so many wagering types and options across so many online betting outlets, a good starting point is to come up with an overall betting plan for the NBA postseason starting with a set budget from your sports betting bankroll. This will give the best chance for a positive return on investment.