Basketball betting in the second round of the NBA playoffs has very competitive matchups as the best teams in the NBA are competing for a spot in the Conference Finals. The second round has some interesting trends you may want to keep in mind for your NBA wagering.
Basketball betting in the second round favors the home teams. And it is not just the line that favors the home team. The trends favor those teams as well. Road teams simply don’t win that often in the second round. That is somewhat surprising considering the matchups are better than in the first round. In the past 20 years the road teams simply have not been a good bet. In the first game of the series the home team wins almost 60% of the time. You may want to avoid the road team in the first game in the second round.
Another trend to consider in NBA wagering is teams coming off a bad loss. And yes, teams can get blown out even in the playoffs. Do teams bounce back after bad losses in the playoffs? The answer is definitely yes. Teams off a loss of 20 points or more have covered the spread about two thirds of the time in the next game. The best bet in the second round is to take a team coming off a bad loss. You can also take this strategy in a similar direction and take the favored team in the series off a loss. The team with the better record that is coming off a loss is a very good bet in the next game.
Another trend to look at in basketball betting in the second round looks at points scored. You can go against teams that have scored 100 or more points in two straight games. If a team has won and covered two straight games and scored 100 or more points in each game, they are not a good bet. You want to go against teams in that situation. They simply don’t cover the spread very often in the next game. It is tough to play three straight great games in the playoffs. In the second round the teams are usually evenly matched so rarely does a team sweep in four straight.
These are just a few trends to keep in mind as you look at NBA wagering for the second round of the NBA Playoffs.