Say What? Oddsmakers Move Bengals Line From -7 to -5 Despite Lopsided Action
The oddsmakers appear to have a very strong opinion on the Houston Texans. Whether they are right or not remains to be seen.
Here is what we do know: The books mostly opened this game with Cincinnati at Cincinnati -7 and by Sunday morning BetOnline had taken the number all the way down to -5.
Normally this would suggest heavy action on the Texans. There is not! 75% or more of the money coming in was on Cincinnati.
Tee Higgins and Sam Hubbard are both out for the Bengals. These are the team's star wide receivers and defensive ends. Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase status Sunday is questionable.
There were a handful of books that opened the number at Bengals -8. The line moving above and below the number 7 based on a relatively limited sampling for our model tends to bode quite well for the dog.
This game was not on our radar until Sunday morning.
Warriors Were Actually a Home Dog Early
In today's NBA slate we see that BetOnline opened the Golden State Warriors as a -2.5 favorite early afternoon Saturday then dropped them to a +1.5 dog prior to Golden State getting beaten up badly by Cleveland at home last night. The Warriors are now on a 2-game losing streak.
The number we get for this game is 2.44 Warriors. As a +1.5 dog there was a 4-point overlay on this game with the wrong team favored and that scenario is great for the dog, which at the time was Golden State.
Heat Winning Even Without Their Stars
The Heat-Spurs line came in at -1.5 Miami with our number at Miami 3.23 against San Antonio Sunday. But our number does not factor in the absence of Tyler Herro.
Jimmy Butler was also out for the game against the Hawks Saturday but still managed to win. Butler's reason for being out had been listed as "personal reasons".
Butler is currently listed as "day to day".
Miami won four straight coming into this game. San Antonio is on a four game losing streak.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com