Basketball
05 Basketball 
/ Betfair Education / 07 March 2008 / Leave a comment
Basketball is one of the fastest-growing sports on Betfair, and it's easy to see why. With all NBA, Euro League and ULEB Cup now offered IP, as well as various domestic leagues covered across Europe, it provides a multitude of betting opportunities.
Whether you consider yourself a beginner, intermediate or expert we have some advice that will hopefully prove useful.
Getting Started
If you are new to the game, don't worry. The resources available online are plentiful. A good place to start is the official website for each federation:
NBA
Euroleague
Uleb Cup
FIBA
NBL
NCAA
These should provide your basic info - who are the best teams, star players, etc.
Another important aspect of basketball is to learn the rules. Complete rules of the game can be found within the FIBA or NBA sites.
Of course the best way to learn the game properly is by watching as much basketball as possible. There is plenty of action shown live on TV around the globe, or on the internet via live streaming.
Get to know the difference between an offensive and defensive foul, how teams manage the shot clock (24 secs, or 35 secs for Men's NCAA), and when teams are likely to commit deliberate fouls at the end of a game (usually because they do not have enough time for another possession after the current shot clock).
Joining a fantasy league can be a great way to learn the players as it gives you a reason to dissect the box scores each day (e.g. see how poorly a player shot on the night).
Making It Pay
There are several factors that have a significant effect on prices for Basketball matches:
• Team news. Arguably more important in Basketball than any other team sport, as there are so few players on the court at any one time. Look at the Miami Heat - reigning champions of the NBA yet they currently lie outside the playoff places due to their two star players, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade being injured for large parts of this season. Sometimes a key player can be ruled out 10 minutes before a match, meaning a shift or 4 or 5 points in the handicap line.
• Home advantage. Around 60% of games are won by the home team, so you can expect them to be around 1.66 even if the two teams are of similar ability.
• Schedule. A team playing two nights in a row will often perform below par the second night as their players are tired. This has more effect away from home with the added onus of traveling between venues, and especially if the team has been on a 5 or 6 game road trip.
• "Name teams" can often be overbet, meaning it can pay to back their opponents. For example the LA Lakers in the NBA are still considered one of the best teams by many even though they've been fairly average since Shaq left. In the Euro League, teams from countries with a lot of punters (e.g. Greece, Italy) will often be overbet against teams from, say, Poland or Lithuania.
IP Betting
• Don't overreact. Top teams can often pull back seemingly large deficits fairly quickly, so if they go 10pts down early in the match it's not the end of the world. Look at shooting stats - one team might hit all of their shots for a quarter, and then reality sets in when the other team change their defence.
• Watch out for key players being rested. No one can play all 48 minutes of a match, so the coach will normally use a rotation of 8 or 9 players. If Kobe Bryant sits out the first 4 minutes of the 2nd quarter, his team will be at their weakest during this time.
• Remember that overtime is included in the result of all markets, unless otherwise stated. So a team that is 2pts up with one second to play might not necessarily be safe on the +4.5pt handicap, as they could lose by 5pts or more after overtime. The same principle applies to Total Match Points.
• If you are betting off a scoreboard, bear in mind that there is always someone with live pictures. So it might no be a good idea to leave a big order on screen in the last few seconds of the game when it could be wiped as the go-ahead basket goes in.
• Watch out for injuries during the game. If Lebron James leaves the game in the first few minutes, it's safe to say that Cleveland will be a far weaker team than the pre-game prices suggest!
• Remember there will normally be deliberate fouls at the end of the game if it is close. This can mean a late flurry of points to take the Total Points over. Also don't assume a team has won just because they are 4pts up with less than 24 secs to play. As long as there is plenty of time on the clock, anything can happen.
