Click Away for Free Picks from the Nations Best   NBA Travel: Study Your Schedules! Bryan Leonard Feb 14 2004 In recent weeks I’ve written about the importance of carefully examining the home/road breakdowns of basketball teams. Both college and pro teams often can perform radically different when they’re in front of their hometown fans, or when they’re on the road. Another area tied into this is the days of the week. That is, good handicappers keep careful track of how many games a particular team is playing over the course of each week. Sometimes a team can be on a four game road trip, for example. But if those four games are spread out over ten days, that can be far less a disadvantage than if a team is on a three-game road trip over four days. Back to back spots are fascinating to keep track of. This doesn’t happen much in college basketball, but it happens all the time in the NBA. If the Knicks are playing at home on Tuesday, then on Wednesday are playing at Denver, there is a lot more taking place here for sports bettors than just a simple back-to-back spot. It means the Knicks are in a back-to-back spot, and traveling on the road for that second game, which is often more grueling on players than if they’re coming home. You must factor in what these players are going through: Playing a night game on Tuesday, then heading to the airport, maybe getting little sleep as they fly 2,500 miles to Denver, crossing time zones, and then facing the Nuggets in a few hours in a hostile environment. The air in Denver is thinner than in New York, so the Denver players might have another edge, as they are accustomed to the Denver climate while the Knicks are not. The Knicks faced an interesting spot just before the All Star break, playing four games in five days. On Feb 7 they played at Miami and the next night flew home to face the Clippers. After one day of rest, New York flew to Dallas on Feb 10 then played at New Orleans the next night. The Knicks lost and failed to cover both, and the defense was clearly burnt out, giving up 105 points to the Mavericks and 106 to the Hornets. The last game went "over" the total by 18 points – (tired legs often means tired defense). That’s a much different situation than if they played two home games sandwiched around a road trip to New Jersey, which is not that far at all from New York. Another example was the red-hot Minnesota Timberwolves, who played three games in four days from Feb. 1-4. The last game was at Atlanta in a back-to-back spot, and while on paper the T-Wolves are a far superior team to the Hawks, Minnesota not only failed to get the cover, but they lost the game 97-89 as a 4½ point road favorite. The back-to-back spot was a factor, as well as the fact they were playing their third game in four days. For those of you who like to play underdogs on the money line, tracking the days of the week can give you an extra edge, which is what sports wagering is all about. Join Bryan Leonard daily for his Guaranteed College and Pro Hoops plays   Owned and operated by Alliance Sports Media  Any information furnished by this site is for information and entertainment only and is not to be used in violation of any federal, state, provincial or local laws - Privacy Policy Contact Servus - Picks2bet.com