Most betting advice from the professional NBA handicappers tends to shy away from parlay plays. While multi-team parlays do offer a much better return on your bet, they are harder to cash in with all the picks needing to win or at least end in a PUSH. By putting a bit more time and depth into your NBA handicapping efforts, you can find the right strategy to add value to a few NBA parlay plays now and then. It is also important to review some sportsbooks you can beat given favorable betting odds.
The main reason the pros stay away from parlays, in general, is their focus on a limited amount of betting options at any one time. With a limited amount of daily NBA betting action on many of the days each week, a professional handicapper may only release one play at a time.
Betting Alternative Props in The NBA
If there are only two or three games on that day’s slate, it is tough to come up with a solid NBA parlay just betting sides with the point spread. Using a combination of bets between spreads, totals, and moneylines you can also expand your options despite the limited schedule.
For example, suppose you love the Los Angeles Clippers as heavy 10-point home favorites against the Sacramento Kings. You might want to parlay that bet with the OVER on the total line if you think the Clippers are going to cruise to a big win. Blowout games tend to run up the score with meaningless buckets late in the fourth quarter.
As a contrast, if you like the San Antonio Spurs as slight four-point home underdogs against the Utah Jazz, you might want to parlay that pick with the UNDER with a bigger emphasis on defense in that matchup.
Following Power Rankings For Your Betting Strategy
The key is to use each team’s stats, facts, and betting trends to aid in the handicapping process. This will help to find hot betting teams against the spread as well as matchups that enhance the OVER or UNDER play on the total line. Betting both the side and the total of an NBA game can improve your chance to cash a two-team parlay. Hopefully, the game goes as planned according to your projected breakdown of that particular matchup.
Another good way to improve the winning percentage for NBA parlays is by using an online sportsbook’s money line odds. This adds some more risk to the equation if you are betting straight-up favorites, but you can add to your overall return if you work a few SU underdogs into the mix.
Online books taking action on NBA parlays using the money line odds will often have an easy to use payout calculator on its site. All you need to do is enter the total dollar amount of the parlay bet and the individual money line odds for the teams you want to play.
Betting Early Season NBA Games
For example, if you take the Philadelphia 76er as -125 home favorites for one pick and the Milwaukee Bucks as -130 favorites for the other pick in a two-team money line bet at $100, the total payout would be $218.46. The bigger the favorite the less the return, but remember that you are getting the favorite in an SU bet.
Betting NBA parlays is a great way to supplement your overall betting strategy when the timing is right. You should limit your plays to two or three teams since the odds start to move in favor of the books once you add more teams than that.
