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Sports Marketwatch
NBA Edition
1/4/2008 4:45 PM EST
By The Team at SportsInsights.com
Happy New Year – from the Team at SportsInsights.com. To help
ring in the New Year, we are pleased to announce that
SportsInsights will now be publishing a Sports Marketwatch
dedicated to the NBA. We would like to thank our members who
expressed an interest in extending our “SportsInsights
philosophy” and “Marketwatch approach” to other sports. (Ask and
you shall receive!) Please let us know what you think of our
column.
Welcome to this week's edition of the Sports Marketwatch – NBA
Edition, where the Team at SportsInsights gives sports fans
unprecedented insight into the NBA point-spread marketplace. If
you ever wanted to know what was really happening on the
sportsbook side, you now have an all-access pass with Sports
Marketplace! Initially, the NBA Edition of the Sports
Marketwatch will be a weekly column published on Friday,
normally by around 5PM, Eastern Time.
The staff at SportsInsights.com speaks directly with the line
managers at some of the sports betting industry’s largest
sportsbooks about which games the public is chasing and the
Sharps are pounding. We’ll take a look at what’s in store for
today’s NBA games.
Sports Marketplace – NBA – 1/4/08
Recapping Last Week’s NBA Action
The Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons continue to streak their
way to huge divisional leads. The Celtics have won 7 in a row
and are 9-1 in their last 10 games, while the Pistons have won
10 in a row! They both hold more than 10 game leads in their
respective divisions and will gain a high percentage of the
public’s bets. First place Orlando stumbled a bit the past few
weeks, going just 5-5 in their last 10 and losing their previous
game. San Antonio also came back to earth a bit recently.
In our Sports Marketwatch column, we’ll look for value in the
NBA marketplace in a variety of ways.
2007-08 NBA Games to Watch: 0-0 = 0%
*Source: SportsInsights.com
NBA Sports Marketwatch 1/4/07 – Games to Watch
Houston Rockets vs. Orlando Magic
The betting public is overwhelmingly on first place Orlando,
with more than 70% of the bets coming in on the Magic. The line
opened at Orlando -5 at Cris, but sharp money on Houston quickly
moved the line to Orlando -4.5. Even with more than 2 out of 3
bets coming in on Orlando, the line has stubbornly stayed at the
Orlando -4.5 level.
After building a comfortable first-place lead in their division,
the Magic has stumbled a bit lately. We like being on the side
of the “smart money” as well as the sportsbooks – and look for
Houston to be a “live dog” versus a recently “softer” Orlando
Magic team.
Houston Rockets +4.5
Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets
With more than 80% of the bets coming in on Denver, you would
think they were giving something away. Indeed, the line looks
like a typically “soft line.” Denver is a first-place team
playing the worst team in the league. Minny currently has only 4
wins, less than half the wins of the second worst teams in the
league! (The Knicks and Heat both have 8 wins.)
Even so, first place Denver is giving only 6 points to the lowly
Timberwolves. The line opened at Denver -6.5 but sharp money has
moved the line down to Denver -6. We see this “soft” line as an
indicator of surprising value. Most bettors will take Denver and
give the points. However, the contrarian investor sees value in
these situations.
Just like our NFL Marketwatch, we often need bad teams to do
good things. Take Minny and the points.
Minnesota Timberwolves +6
So, here’s a wrap-up of SportsInsights.com analysis for this
week’s Games to Watch for the NBA.
Games to Watch (0-0-0)
Houston Rockets +4.5
Minnesota Timberwolves +6
It should be another exciting weekend in the sports marketplace.
Keep Sports Marketwatch picks handy and your browser pointed to
SportsInsights.com for the latest real-time updates, using our
exclusive Sports Investing tools.
We’ll be back next Friday with the new edition of the Sports
Marketwatch – NBA Edition.
Enjoy the games!
The Team at SportsInsights.com
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