Few factors affect the game of basketball more then injuries. Injuries can make a favorite to win the NBA title fall to the lottery, and had a role in nearly every single NBA season to date and this year is going to be no different.

The 2017-18 NBA season was barely 5 minutes old when the first major injury changed the season. With 7 minutes to go in their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics high profile free agent All-star signing Gordon Hayward went down for the season with a broken leg. In the game following that game the Houston Rockets lost their high profile off-season acquisition Chris Paul to an injury.

The Rockets eventually got Paul back, but the Celtics will lose Hayward for the season. Though both teams seem to have weathered the storm of losing an all-star, but mostly because both teams have the depth to cover their absence, not every team is so lucky. The Utah Jazz, Hayward's old team, lost All-NBA center Rudy Gobert and have since been in a tailspin.

Smaller nagging injuries also affect the game and they can be harder to spot. For example, several members of the Cleveland Cavaliers where nursing injuries through-out the playoffs last season and this several y impacted their performance against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals.

Do not forget injuries to significant role players either. In last years playoffs the Utah Jazz lost George Hill to a lingering wrist injury and after stunning the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, the Jazz would have a really hard time vs the Golden State Warriors in the second round and ultimately ended up getting swept.

These injuries also affect the sports betting lines quit significantly. Basketball Betting Sites often rely on fans unfamiliarity with injuries to score big. Bettors who understand and follow injuries, especially those to stars, will have a much better shot at scoring big when it comes to online betting.

Injuries also greatly affect the odds to win the NBA championship. Before the season the Celtics had the second highest odds to win the title, following the Hayward injury the Celtics odds dropped significantly, only to once again rise while the Celtics have been on their 15 game win streak. If a bettor had laid big money on the Celtics when their odds dropped and the Celtics win the NBA championship the bettor would win big.

Timing is really everything. Timing bets to coincide with odds will help the bettor beat the house, and it is really the only way for a bettor to get the advantage. The house has teams of insiders reading and following all 30 NBA teams to sway the lines in favor of the house. The bettor's best advantage is to follow the same strategy and place money down at the right time, because sometimes the house misses subtly clues such as nagging injuries that do not keep players out of games but do affect their overall performance.

Following the betting lines on your favorite Basketball Betting Sites coupled with following relevant basketball news will help you further predict the lines in the future and will allow the bettor to make better basketball betting decisions.