All about basketball odds, betting lines and spreads
One of the basic elements of every team sport is the duration of the game. Basketball is one of few sports, if not the only, whose games last differently depending on the league. The NBA games and the games from some other leagues such as the Chinese CBA or the Philippines PBA are played in 4 x 12 minutes periods or a total of 48 minutes.
Basketball games in Europe or all of those that are organized by FIBA are played in 4 periods of 10 minutes or a total of 40 minutes.
It is very important to know how long a basketball game will last before you place your bet, especially if you want to bet on over/under.
Basketball odds
No basketball game can end up in a tie, meaning that every single one of them needs to have a winner. A certain percentage of basketball games finish in a tie after the regular 40 or 48 minutes. In these cases, extra periods of 5 minutes are played until one of the teams ends up as a winner of those periods.
Knowing that basketball bookmakers online offer 2-way and 3-way moneyline. In a 2-way moneyline, all you get are odds for each team’s win. In a 3-way moneyline, besides those two, you will see basketball betting odds for a tie in regulation.
When it comes to betting on quarters or halves, the 3-way moneyline is the most common since a quarter or a half can end up in a tie.
Basketball spreads
Basketball betting is known for using spreads. Calculating the spreads is something that the best online bookmakers are doing very well. The purpose of the spread in basketball betting is to give both teams an equal chance of winning by setting the spread at a certain point. What the spread will be depend on many factors such as rosters, records, recent scores, injury report schedule etc.
