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THE YEAR WAS 1975. Pittsburgh beat Dallas 21-17 in the
Super Bowl. Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers went undefeated
to win the NCAA College Basketball title. The Golden State
Warriors, led by Rick Barry, won the NBA Championship. Barry
Switzer and Oklahoma claimed the #1 ranking in college football.
It was memorable year, but one that the bookmakers would
rather forget, because Sports Reporter made its debut
as a weekly forecast newspaper. Suddenly, their clients
got smarter.
Soon, "Blue Sheet" Best Bets and Major Wagers were
rocking the sporting world strongly enough to merit coverage
on NBC and in Newsweek. Sports Reporter handicappers
were celebrated as wily "foxes" and "gurus,"
entertaining and informing a new generation of sports bettors
with insights on how to be king of the hill in football.
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Today, the "ol' Blue Sheet" upholds that tradition,
selling out on newsstands nationwide and making its way to
many mailboxes -- at front doors and online.
But with www.sportsreporter.com, the mountain comes to you,
so to speak. You get earlier delivery and more information
from your Sports Reporter membership. That translates to more
winners, received faster. Combine that quality service with
FREE coverage of sports betting trends and angles, and you'll
agree that Sports Reporter has no peer as a source of providing
reliable, honest and accurate sports information.
The Sports Reporter network is a unique and intricately
woven web of handicapping geeks that actually attends
games in person and speaks to coaches. There is first-hand
knowledge of player status - injury and otherwise. They can
spot mismatches and style edges that the ordinary observer
cannot. And they write about it with substance and style.
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| AID
AND A-BET |
by Bobby Smith
Sports Reporter Editor
FEBRUARY, 2019:NBA PARADIGM SHIFT: Big Favorites = Big Profit. You would not think that the success rate for NBA favorites in a certain pointspread range would jump from a five-season historical rate of only 45.5%, all the way up to 64.2% in the current 2018-19 season, would you? However, it is true. What is more surprising is that the particular range of favorites is, very simply, the largest favorites. This season, as the NBA heads into the All-Star break, favorites of -12 or more are 43-24-2 ATS, according to our records. From the 2013-14 thru 2016-17 seasons, NBA favorites in that range won at the above-mentioned rate, a serious losing proposition. However, the wheel began to turn last year, when favorites of -12 or more were 73-61 ATS, 54.8%. Big chalk has continued that momentum this season, rolling upwards by another 10 percentage points!
Why? Although the NBA, like the NFL, is supposedly set up for parity, the worst teams have not taken advantage. They are poorly managed, at least as far as winning games and being competitive are concerned. Lots of teams are making plenty of money while losing. The franchises not making a ton of money are probably generating nice tax write-offs for their owners. Won-loss records are often secondary to the bottom line, which fans and bettors are not looking at, but owners are.
While only a handful of teams account for the majority of -12 or more instances, a second tier of them have handled the role well. You have Golden State 7-4 ATS, Denver 5-1 ATS, Boston 4-1 ATS, Oklahoma City 4-2 ATS, Houston 3-1 ATS in the role for the majority of the action. But Utah is 3-0 ATS, Portland 2-0 ATS laying -12 or more. The Clippers, Lakers, Pelicans and Wizards are all 1-0 ATS. Were it not for the fact that Toronto (1-5 ATS) and Indiana (1-3 ATS) are still conforming to the old rules for the biggest NBA Favorites, the success rate would be better than 70%! MORE
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