Sports Interaction senior analyst Frank Doyle identifies the single best bet in the NBA playoffs.
The San Antonio Spurs are the best sports betting proposition in the NBA Playoffs, which start this weekend. The Spurs are the best bet on the spread and on the moneyline, and gosh, on the outright too. The NBA top brass is drooling at the prospect of a return to Showtime, Boston v LA, East v West, and the fans would like it to, but for bettors, you can’t look past the Spurs.
Does this mean that the Spurs will win? No, it doesn’t. They mightn’t even get past Phoenix in the first round. But that doesn’t invalidate the proposition that San Antonio is the best bet at the playoffs. And the reason why is this: San Antonio is always a better price than it’s actually worth, and that’s why betting on the Spurs is always value. Always.
The single most important factor to remember in assessing any price is that the price is determined not by whom the book thinks is going to win but by whom the book thinks the public thinks is going to win. This is a vital distinction. The public can’t get enough of Showtime, the Lakers’ and Celtics’ prices are slashed in a defensive manoeuvre, and the result of this is that the Spurs become a great, big, fat bargain.
The Spurs are the team of the 21st Century. There’s no question about that. Like The Dude in The Big Lewbowski, they abide, come what may. And they’re the reigning Champions, and as such entitled to stay on their perch until someone knocks them off. But the public doesn’t know the Spurs are Champions, because no-one watched that final – it was one of the lowest rated finals in twenty years.
The lesson for the canny bettor is clear. Get on the Spurs, before the word gets out.