What’s the Point Spread on the NBA Game Tonight?
Contents
The point spread is the number of points that the oddsmakers believe will separate the two teams in the matchup. The larger the point spread, the more one team is favored over the other.
Introduction
Point spread betting is the most popular way to bet on basketball. In this type of bet, you are essentially picking one team to win by a certain margin. The point spread is the number of points that the oddsmakers believe will separate the two teams.
For example, let’s say that the Golden State Warriors are playing the Los Angeles Lakers. The Warriors are favored to win by 7 points. If you bet on the Warriors, they would need to win by 8 or more points for you to win your bet. If you bet on the Lakers, they can lose by 6 points or less, or they can win the game outright, and you would still win your bet.
The point spread is designed to make betting on basketball as even as possible. It’s meant to discourage people from betting on blowouts, because those bets are very difficult to win. However, sometimes oddsmakers will misjudge a game and set the point spread too high or too low. When this happens, it creates an opportunity for smart bettors to find an edge and bet on the team that they think will cover the spread.
What is a Point Spread?
A point spread is a number assigned by oddsmakers to indicate how much they think one team will win or lose by. The favored team is given a minus sign (-) and is asked to win the game by that many points. The underdog team is given a plus sign (+) and is asked to lose the game by that many points.
How do Point Spreads Work?
In sports betting, a point spread is the number of points assigned by the bookmaker to the team that is expected to lose by a certain number of points. The favorite will have a negative (-) point spread and the underdog will have a positive (+) point spread. For example, if the Warriors are playing the Lakers and the bookmaker decides that the Warriors are 7 points better than the Lakers, then they will be said to be -7 point favorites.
How to Bet on Point Spreads
The most common way to bet on NBA basketball is through the point spread. The point spread is the number of points that a team is favored to win by. For example, if the Chicago Bulls are playing the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Bulls are favored to win by 3 points, then you would bet on the Bulls if you think they will win by more than 3 points, or bet on the Lakers if you think they will lose by less than 3 points.
The point spread is usually set at -110, which means you have to bet $110 to win $100. But sometimes you will see it set at -105 or -115, which means you would only have to bet $105 or $115, respectively, to win $100.
The favorite is always indicated by a minus (-) sign, and the underdog is always indicated by a plus (+) sign. So in our example above, the Bulls are the favorite and the Lakers are the underdog.
If you bet on the favorite (the Bulls), then they have to win by more than 3 points for you to win your bet. If they win by exactly 3 points, then it is a push and your bet is returned. If they lose by any less than 3 points, then you lose your bet.
If you bet on the underdog (the Lakers), then they can lose by up to 3 points and you will still win your bet as long as they don’t lose by more than 3 points. If they lose by exactly 3 points, then it is a push and your bet is returned.
The point spread is usually accompanied by a decimal point and two numbers, like this: -3.5 (-115). The first number (3.5 in our example) is how many points the favorite must win by in order for you to win your bet; if they win by less than that amount, then you lose your bet. The second number (-115 in our example) tells you how much money you need to risk in order toWinYourBet;ifyoubet$115andtheteamwinsby4pointsorth morethenyouwillwin$100(plus getyour$115back).
Conclusion
After doing some research, we found that the point spread on the NBA game tonight is 5.5 points.
