Hoops, Hoops, and more Hoops; NBA back in Action

Happy Friday everyone. It’ll only be the second non-football weekend, but we have full NBA slate, a bunch of college hoops, and PGA Tour to monitor this weekend. We hit both our NBA picks coming out of the break yesterday and have 3 more in this newletter.

While we give out one of our NBA plays for free tonight in the newsletter, our additional NBA plays/props, full Genesis Invitational card, College Basketball and NHL plays (when they are back) are all worth an upgrade at the current $99/year plan as you don’t want to miss weekly NFL and CFB week picks this fall. One $99 price (or $9.99/month) will get you every single newsletter unlocked, all our trends and picks and access to me of course.

Also make sure you listen to the weekly Betting with Bearman podcast. Last week, we had golf handicapper Chris Euksuzian on and all he did was give out a 90-1 outright winner in Collin Morikowa. This week, Pro Football and Sports Network’s Kyle Soppe, who helped me start the Betting with Bearman podcast, is back to break down the NBA’s second half and go toe-to-toe with me on our PGA cards.

We are excited about our affiliate deal with our new friends at Betr. Through our partnership, you can sign up now and get $10 free and then a 50% deposit match up to $200 by using the Betting with Bearman sign up link, right here. We are also going to be sending out Betr plays every newsletter and went 3-1 over the weekend!

First round did not finish on Thursday, so there are no lines up yet, but we will have them on Twitter/X once they are posted.

Next week, we hope to also jump into the pool with college baseball picks

Miami Heat (-3.5, 244.5) at Atlanta Hawks
Indiana Pacers (-1.5, 230.5) at Washington Wizards

Today is the day. I'm laying the foundation for a type of bet that I hit regularly during the postseason. DraftKings doesn't always offer it, but it's up for tonight's slate, so let’s do it.

The "Largest Comeback" market has never felt appropriately priced to me. Given the variance of how teams play the sport today, a five-point lead is nothing. We see wild swings from minute-to-minute, never mind quarter-to-quarter or half-by-half. The least efficient offense in the NBA right now would have been an above average unit a decade ago and every team averages north of 30 triple tries a night.

With base level talent in the Association being as high as ever, this means that even in games in which the favorite covers, there is more than likely to be some back-and-forth. 

Case in point: the Heat beat the breaks off of the Wizards before the All Star Break (132-101), but it was Washington that jumped out to a 20-11 lead because they knocked down four early 3's. The favorite in the other game I chose, the Pacers, have seen both teams have a 5+ point lead in every game they've played this month (heck, they were down 12 at halftime when they beat these Wizards a week-and-a-half ago).

Asking the winning team to overcome a five-point deficit at some point isn't much, nor is asking an undermanned team to look like the better squad for the few possessions it takes to jump out to an early edge.

My favorite part of bets like this is that it's not rare for them to cash before halftime. In the aforementioned Indiana/Washington team, the Wiz scored the first five points and less than eight minutes later, the Pacers were up 23-18.

Ticket cashed. Both teams trailed by 5+, so regardless of the final result, the winner overcame the needed deficit.

In a perfect world, I like getting home 'dogs in games with a 230+ point total when parlaying these bets together. That's not always possible, but it is tonight. If you click within the game, scroll to the right and find "Game Props", our "Largest Comeback" option will be there.

Parlay: 5+ Largest Comeback in both Miami/Atlanta and Indiana/Washington game (+144)

Stick around for more NBA and full golf card.