How to Bet On Sports – Betting Early Season NBA Games

A new season of basketball in the NBA tips off this week as the Golden State Warriors look to continue their recent domination of the league with four-straight trips to the NBA Finals and three world titles. Next to the NFL, betting on NBA games brings in the second-most action for online sportsbooks. This is a much longer season running all the way into June with the playoffs, so there is plenty of opportunity to cash in on the games on almost a daily basis.

Given that the regular season schedule covers 82 games, all 30 teams are going to have some ups and downs along the way both straight-up and against the spread. The trick to beating the books betting on the NBA is tied to the ability to know how and where to find the best value in the betting odds.

Betting the point spread is still the most popular way to bet on the NBA along with the betting lines set for the total. Betting action on the NBA moneyline is a smaller part of the entire handle books take in, but often times some of the best value can be found in these betting odds.

There are two basic strategies for betting on the early NBA games in a new regular season. The first is to jump right in with some bets right out of the gate. Golden State will open its season at home against Oklahoma City as an 11.5-point favorite. The Warriors may want to make a statement their first time out by beating up on one of the better teams in the Western Conference. Keep in mind, that Golden State lost to Houston at home in its 2017/2018 season opener as a 9.5-point favorite. This was part of a very costly 1-6 start ATS that year.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics are five-point home favorites in their season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers. These two bitter Atlantic Division rivals are considered to be the top two teams competing for this season’s conference title with the Celtics having the clear edge against Philly. The 76ers may be the team trying to make a statement by drawing first blood after losing to Boston in last season’s conference semifinals.

The opening round of matchups can be tough to call which adds some credence to taking a ‘wait and see’ approach to betting earlier season NBA games. You should go through the handicapping process for the matchups that offer the best value in the betting lines, but hold off on pulling the trigger on an actual real money bet. If you do end up with a winning percentage on your early picks, then it may be time to put some money on these plays. If you find yourself off-base on your initial picks, you might want to hold off even longer until you get a better feel for predicting the right outcome.

If you do decide to bet on the early games in the NBA, you should first establish a separate budget from within your overall sports betting bankroll. The lines will get blurred if you do not track your overall winning percentage for each of your online sports betting activities. Right now, you should know the difference between your winning rate on college football games against the NFL. Once college basketball starts back up later in November, you need a system in place to keep your NBA results separate from any early college games you decide to wager on.

Taking an organized approach to sports betting along with a proven system of money management is essential to trying to earn the best possible return on investment for all of your online sports betting activity.