NBA Playoff Betting: What to Not Bet On

When it comes to betting on the NBA Playoffs, there are definitely some great betting options on the board night in and night out, but you’ll also find that there are some bets that you should really  just avoid taking any risk of betting.  It can be a tough thing to call, but while there is a time for all types of different NBA bets, you’ll find that the few bets we list below are probably ones that really just aren’t worth your while at all, and could potentially end up just handing your money to the online sports betting site or live sportsbook that you are using!  Let’s get right into the different options.

The Eight Seeds

We hate to do this to those eight seeds who have battled their way into the NBA Playoffs, and it’s not nearly as bad as betting on something like a 16 seed to beat a one seed in NCAA Tournament betting, but this is still one that you should probably just avoid all together.  Overall an eight seed could come in with a strong team, and definitely has a chance to win some games, but it’s not like in college hoops where a team just has to pull the upset once, they actually have to do it multiple times to win the series.  All-in-all, most one seeds are more than talented enough to roll through their opponent in a series, and you find more sweeps or series’ that end in 4-1 than you do with the eight seed pulling off the upset.

So really what I’m getting at here is that even though you may get some great odds to bet on the eight seed to win the overall series against a one seed, the odds of it happening are strongly against you, and overall you’ll find that the teams just aren’t talented in most situations to pull off consistent upsets.  Look for upsets in other places, and against teams who aren’t as talented as the top teams in each conference!

The Top Seeds in Their Opening Games at Home

This goes with the above betting tip in a way, but it’s still slightly different.  You’ll find that the one and two seeds in each conference in the NBA will typically be heavy favorites going into their first game on their home court, and you can bet that they are most likely coming out with a ton of intensity.  These teams have championship aspirations and their fans are preparing for a potential NBA Finals run.  So what does that mean exactly?  Well, mainly it means that the fans are going to be insane for their team, and that the team is going to come out firing from all over the place.  You’ll probably get great odds to bet against the home team in their opening game, but in Game 1 you are probably better off looking at either the actual betting line itself, or one of the different betting options available on the game.