Score Big! A Guide to Understanding Basketball Bets

Although there are some very popular sports, basketball bets is one of the biggest sports in the world. It has been for a very long time, and it likely will be for a long time to come. It is exciting on its own, but it can become even more exciting through betting, which is something that sports enthusiasts have discovered a long time ago. Betting on popular sports like this has become extremely big worldwide, especially when it comes to NBA matches.

Now, the game itself is fairly simple, and so is placing bets on it. However, to become a successful bettor, you can’t just randomly bet on some aspects of any individual match and hope to win. That is, you can – but your chances of winning that way are up to random chance. No, if you want to become a pro basketball bets and win more often, you need to apply some basketball bets strategies, which is where things start to get a little more complicated.

Of course, this is not something that any bettor cannot learn, and over time, as you become more experienced, you may even develop your own unique strategy to help you beat the sportsbooks at their own game. However, for now, while you are still new to the world of basketball bets, you should familiarize yourself with some of the existing, most popular strategies and use them as guidelines for yourself – not just to win, but also to gain a deeper understanding of how it all works.

With that said, here are our top 8 tips to increase your odds of winning when on basketball bets, and JiliAsia advise you to use one or more of them to design your own strategy and make your sports betting experience more exciting than ever before.

Top 8 Tips to Increase Your Odds of Winning Basketball Bets

3-Pointers Are Not Reliable

As you probably know, scoring in basketball bets can be done in two ways – either the players will take the ball all the way to the basket or they will try to score from beyond the arc, which will make a successful point become 3 points. Some teams love to go for 3-pointers whenever they get the chance, and while these are some of the most exciting shots – they are not a reliable way to win games.

As such, betting on such teams is extremely risky. Whether we are talking about the NBA, NCAA, or even one of the regular matches not tied to any league – there are always teams that are willing to take risks and those that would rather play it safe by focusing on points in the paint. As a bettor, you should rely more on the latter, as missing a 3-pointer is much easier than making it, and the winning team (especially in the NCAA) is almost never the one that focuses on 3-pointers.

Don’t Bet on Tired Players

Another good idea before choosing a team to bet on is to check their schedule. In basketball bets, teams that have a lot of games scheduled close together – usually several games in a week – can easily get tired. This can have a major impact on their performance, meaning they are more likely to lose. To avoid betting on such teams, you should check their schedule and see how many games they have played recently.

The team may be traveling a long distance or may be playing their fourth game in five or six days, and if so – you can be sure they’ll be exhausted, moving slower, and reflexes sluggish.

The location of the matches is also very important, as the energy of the entire team can be even lower if they have to play a match at one location, then have to travel far for the next match, and then travel again for the third match, etc. Having to run back and forth across the country in every game will tire even the spectators watching the team, let alone the players themselves.

Finally, check where they are in the season, as the team will likely handle fatigue early in the season much better than when it’s near the end or even halfway through. The closer to the end of the season, the greater the consequences that continuous matches and long trips will have on the players, so keep that in mind.

Talented Players After a Heavy Loss

There are a lot of talented players out there, but for reasons like fatigue and other similar reasons, they can still suffer a heavy loss. Often, after things like this, confidence in the whole team can plummet. Don’t let this happen to you. Remember that they are still extremely talented individuals and the group itself is very strong. Not only that, you can be sure that the next away game will be a chance for them to prove themselves, hopefully after a long rest.

If the team is favored when they are on the road, even after suffering a heavy loss, that means they may be a safer bet. Plus, they’ll have a strong incentive to be the best they can be right now, and bettors know this, which is why you should definitely consider them if they’re favored.

Bet on the Underdog at Their Home

Sometimes it can happen that when two teams play, the team playing at home can still be considered the underdog. Despite being weaker teams, and even sometimes clearly weaker teams, you can be sure that these teams will fight with everything they have. After all, this is their home, they will want to prove themselves to the fans and impress everyone at home.

Meanwhile, the favored team in this situation is the away team and they no longer have the motivation to win. They can relax after taking the lead and as a result, they can easily lose that lead. For them, there are no emotions associated with the need to win – all they care about is the score.

Keep an Eye on Professional Bettors

One of the best ways to make money when betting on sports, even when you’re just starting out, is to watch what the pros are doing. There are many experts with years of experience in sports betting and they know how to take advantage of every bet. If you see the public has bet on one side and then the line starts to move a lot to the other side, it could mean that the pros are acting and taking advantage of naive, uneducated bettors.

Unfortunately for the public, many bettors in this group don’t make good moves when betting. They bet on their favorite team instead of the teams that are more likely to win. They follow trends set by other bettors, who are equally educated, and they end up losing money.

Of course, with a little research, you can learn how to take advantage of the opportunities created by the public even without experts, technically, this will also make you an expert. Simply put, if you see a line move one way and you believe the reason for this is because there are too many public bets based on emotion, be sure to bet the other way – especially if your research and logic also suggest so.

All that remains is to master the timing and figure out the exact moment to make your move. There are no shortcuts here and you will have to learn as you go. You may make mistakes along the way, but a big lesson to be learned is that there are no guarantees in betting and sometimes, you will lose. However, your goal is to ensure that these losses occur as rarely as possible and that your winnings can compensate for that.

Don’t Bet on Your Favorite Team if Their Chances of Winning Are Low

Every sports bettor is also a sports fan. This is how most people get into sports betting – with the idea of betting on their favorite team, and even if you’re only in it for the money, you can get a favorite team when researching teams and players. However, this is where one of the biggest pitfalls of sports betting lies – allowing emotions to override your logic and predictions and betting on your favorite team just because they are your favorite.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s 100% wrong to bet on your favorite team and you should avoid it altogether. If you really expect them to win based on facts rather than feelings, then by all means – go ahead and bet. However, you need to be very careful when doing your research, as it’s very easy to convince yourself to bet on your favorite team, even if their chances are extremely slim.

This is understandable – everyone wants their favorites to win, regardless of who they are or how good they are compared to their opponents. And when taking on the role of a fan, you should support them no matter what the circumstances. However, as a bettor, you need to learn to distinguish between betting on a team because you like them and betting on them because they can win.

So, if you are sure about your strategy, you can also bet on them. However, if you believe your emotions are influencing your decision, it’s best to avoid their matches as a bettor and just watch them as a fan.

Choose Your Games Carefully

There is an old saying that you should “choose your battles carefully” and although this expression means only fighting for something when it really matters, in sports betting, you should take it literally. When you bet on sports, you are alone against everyone else, including the bookmakers, other bettors, and the team that your “team” is playing against.

Now, the game will play out as it will play out, and there’s not much you can do about that. However, when it comes to bookmakers, you need to remember that they are very good at what they do. And their lines are usually spot on.What this means for you is that finding value in the game is going to be quite a challenge. Your best bet is to look for opportunities at times when there are many matches going on. 

This is also true when it comes to smaller games, as bookmakers won’t spend as much time researching them. However, when it comes to single, big matches, you can be sure that they will invest all of their time and energy to ensure that they will be the ones to succeed.

However, let’s say that you still want to bet on such matches. After all, there’s a lot of money in such games, so there’s a very good reason for you to participate. The way to do it is to try to come up with your own system and predictions and make them as accurate as possible. The secret lies in doing it BEFORE you look at the lines and see the bookmaker’s predictions. That way, you will be sure that you are betting on a game that has value for you and your decision is not influenced by the bookmakers or the public.

Check Who’s Playing

You might think that this is obvious and doesn’t mean much. However, you would be surprised to know how many times people skip this step. The simple truth is that changing even one player can seriously disrupt team spirit in any sport, including basketball bets. Players can get injured right before the game, and no matter which player is replaced, the impact can be quite severe. If it’s a star player, the consequences can be devastating.

So, the thing to do here is to check the injury reports and roster before placing a bet. If there is a change in the lineup and you are no longer confident in placing the bet, it is better to skip it than to lose money.