It is important as a gambler looking at basketball betting odds to understand the difference between public money and smart money as it applies to NBA betting odds. NBA betting odds appeal to both the public bettor and the professional bettor. NBA betting odds will be set up by sportsbooks to hopefully attract an equal amount of money to each side of a game. You should be aware that the smart money is oftentimes going to look at lower profile games while the general public is going to look more at televised games and high profile teams.
The smart money may look more at totals in terms of NBA betting odds than the average bettor. The smart money in NBA betting odds may also look more at underdogs since the public is likely to back favorites. A good rule of thumb when looking at NBA odds is that smart money is usually playing the totals and some occasional sides. You will notice that NBA sides don’t move a great deal in terms of basketball betting odds. That is not the case with totals. Smart money moves the NBA odds on totals because the numbers on totals have historically been weak.
NBA betting odds on sides will rarely move more than a point or so unless there is an injury. Professional bettors rarely see value in a side where the line will move a great deal. It is more likely the NBA betting odds will move on a total. That is also why you will see NBA odds on totals move four or five points at times. That rarely happens with a side in basketball betting odds. A question you may be asking is whether or not the public has enough pull in terms of NBA odds to move a side or a total. The answer is they almost never move a total and rarely move sides. Basketball betting odds don’t get nearly the action that football betting odds get and that means most of the money in the NBA comes from the so-called smart money. What you have to remember though is that smart money is tough to identify sometimes and that you probably can’t follow it and do well. The lines are too volatile and finding the true smart money is oftentimes next to impossible.