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Basketball Betting: Get to grips with the game and the NBA to slamdunk some profit

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A quick and easy guide to the basics of betting on basketball...

Basketball is one of the fastest-growing sports on Betfair, and it's easy to see why. With all NBA, European League and some domestic competitions now offered in-play, this fast-flowing, high-scoring game provides a multitude of betting opportunities.

Below are some handy hints and tips to equip the burgeoning basketball fan with some basic pointers.

Getting Started

If you are new to the game, don't worry. There are plenty of resources available online to provide the basic information best teams, star players and so on. A good place to start is the official website for each federation:

http://www.nba.com/
http://www.euroleague.net/
http://www.ulebcup.com/
http://www.fiba.com/

Of course, before betting on the game, every punter should learn the rules which can be found at http://www.fiba.com or http://www.nba.com/. By far 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 (available at http://livevideo.betfair.com/).

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 effectiveness of each player.

Making It Pay

With the rules under your belt, there are several factors that have a significant effect on prices for basketball matches:

Team news: It could be argued that player absences are 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, the reigning champions of the NBA currently lie outside the playoff places due to injuries to their two star players, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade for large parts of this season. Sometimes a key man can be ruled out 10 minutes before a match, meaning a shift of four or five points in the handicap line.

Home advantage: Around 60 per cent of games are won by the home team.

Schedule: A team playing two nights in a row will often perform below-par on the second night due to player tiredness This has more effect away from home with the added onus of travelling between venues, and especially if the team has been on a five or six 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's departure. 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.

In-Play Betting

Don't overreact: Top teams can often pull back seemingly large deficits fairly quickly, so if they go 10 points down early in the match it's not the end of the world.

No-one plays the whole match: 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 eight or nine players. If Kobe Bryant sits out the first four minutes of the second quarter, his team will be at their weakest during this time.

Overtime is included in the result of all markets (unless otherwise stated). 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.

Information sources: 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!

The clock may be ticking but plenty can happen. Remember there will normally be deliberate fouls at the end of the game if it is close which can result in a late flurry of points. 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.

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• Basketball