Miscellaneous:
1. Zig and Zag – Win Lose Win Lose ...Win?
A classic way to bet a series expecting one team to respond while the other has a bit less motivation after a win.
Nets Zigged with a loss last game and now we want a Zag back to a win.
2. Extended rest
Two full days rest. Of course, this favors the older Nets who need it. Last time I said it favored the Raps coming off a loss to regroup but this time,
It’s the Nets coming off a loss so we focus on the rest ANd regrouping for the Nets here.
3. "What they built", again
What they built. The Nets are built for WIN NOW and WIN NOW only. The Raps are built to play with house money in this spot.
Will the Nets cede control of this series in this spot? That is a tough sell but we are going to do something to this bet that makes us
much more comfortable.
Ok, in summation here is what we have. We are getting 3.5 with the Nets. 3.5 is a shade under 4. Why is that important? Because as I’ve said
many times, 4 is a key number in terms of spread value and it goes up quickly for every .5 point over 4.
If you take a line like 3.5 you should cap a team to win. 3.5 is not enough to say, “the spread will help me get there.” It may help you, but really 4
Is the necessary starting line to attain that help (look at the line of 4.5 last night with the Mavs/Spurs in a 4 point Spurs victory). >=4 matters.
As you can tell by my write-up, there is some GOOD but also some very disturbing BAD too to counter it.
So now look at the margin of victory in all the games this year (save one). 8 is the highest.
Therefore, what do we do? We TEASE THIS LINE UP +4.5 to +8. I know you don’t like to tease but it is necessary in this spot.
+3.5 is not enough and I want the insurance. +8 is huge here.
Plus, in every game this series, if you teased the road dog up? You won. What are we doing here?
Teasing the road dog up with VERY closely matched teams in what should be a barn burner of a game backing a team
that the stats say we can’t trust in the fourth.
So we are teasing the Nets from 3.5 to the maximum margin of victory that has decided 7 of 8 games: EIGHT Points.
That is a good spot to be in isn’t it? Instead of the 3.5!? Yes, it is.
Now, what is the other game we need to hit given this is a tease?