NBA Sharp Report: Pros Betting Raptors-Heat, 2 Other Wednesday Games

Christmas 2018 has come and gone and the new year is right around the corner. In the meantime, it's back to the grind for recreational and professional bettors alike.

With college hoops on hiatus until Friday, the gambling universe will be focused on three bowl games and a stacked 10-game NBA slate today.

After consulting the betting tools available at Sports Insights and The Action Network, I’ve identified three NBA games that pros are betting on Wednesday night, with two games starting at 7:30 p.m. and one at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Betting Terms to Know

Steam Move: Sudden, drastic and uniform line movement across the market caused by an overload of sharp action from respected players.

Reverse Line Movement: When the betting line moves in the opposite direction of the betting percentages. It’s a top smart money indicator.

Line Freeze: When one side is getting heavy betting, but the line won’t budge, indicating sharp liability on the other side.

Juice: The tax or commission that bettors must pay sportsbooks in order for them to accept your wager. A -115 juice means a bettor would have to wager $115 to win $100.

Full Sports Betting Glossary

Indiana Pacers at Atlanta Hawks

Tip off: 7:30 p.m. ET

Sharp angle: Hawks (+8 to +7) 

Public bettors take one look at the won-loss records and their minds are made up. Indiana is 22-12 and Atlanta is 9-23. Lay the points, Pacers all day.

Not the sharps. They're buying low on the home dogs to keep it close.

This line opened at Pacers -8. Despite receiving 63% of bets, Indiana has fallen to -7. Sharps got down hard on Pacers +8 and Pacers +7.5, triggering a pair of Steam Moves at Sports Insights that forced oddsmakers to adjust the line toward the home dogs.

Atlanta is only receiving 36% of bets but 79% of dollars, making it a match for the profitable Bet Labs PRO system Tickets vs. Money NBA Spread: 54.8% ATS, +42.38 units since 2005.

Toronto Raptors at Miami Heat

Tip off: 7:30 p.m. ET

Sharp angle: Heat (+4.5 to +3.5) 

Quick! Name the hottest team in the NBA. That's right, the Miami Heat (16-16). Wait, what?

Typically, recreational bettors love betting on streaking teams (in this case five straight wins for Miami). However, the allure of Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors (25-10) is too much to pass up.

This line opened at Raptors -4.5. Despite receiving 65% of bets, Toronto has moved to -3.5. Why would the oddsmakers drop the line to give public Raptors bettors an easier shot at covering?

Using our Sports Insights Bet Signals, we tracked three separate Steam and Reverse Line Moves on Miami +5 and +4.5.

Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Clippers

Tip off: 10:30 p.m. ET

Sharp angle: Over (236.5 to 238) 

Average Joes love betting overs. However, they also tend to bet totals based solely on the number itself, not where the value is. If the total is low, take the over. If the total is high, take the under.

Wiseguys know it's not that easy.

This total opened at an incredibly high 236.5. We're seeing a massive Pros vs. Joes bet discrepancy, with 61% of bets taking the under but 76% of dollars taking the over.

This signals that the heavy, respected wagers are going over, with $5 casual bets going under.

Early on, wiseguys steamed the Over 236.5. We haven't seen any conflicting under moves.

The Kings and Clippers both rank in the top five in scoring and bottom six in points allowed. Goodfellas are banking on a high-scoring game with lots of points and little defense.