Teams who reach the second round are either annoyed or overjoyed. They could be annoyed because it took so long to get here or they could be overjoyed because they finally got here. But, we’re not going to try to figure out which Oyed the team is. We’re simply going to look at the opening games of second round action since the 1991 playoffs and see if there is anything worth remembering about them. Surprisingly, there is and I found almost all of it.
In all second round openers, home teams are 38-26-1 ATS and favorites are 39-25-1 to the number. All teams, regardless of site or line, who played a team off a SU win as an underdog, went 20-9-3 vs the spread. The key in this round, however, is Won-Loss percentage. We found that those teams who did not have a WL% of at least .636 (that figure says that the team was unable to win an average of 7 games in each 11 games played during the regular season and round one), did not do well, especially if the opponent’s WL% was higher than that benchmark. In actuality, there were 33 games that fit those parameters and the team with the good WL% covered 25 of them. In all games in which the opponent was less than .636, those teams who were playing an opponent off BB wins went 20-6 ATS. Those who were playing a division foe were 10-2 to the line and those who were playing with revenge finished at 12-4 vs the number.
Now, let’s look at second round openers with regard to round one.
There have been 39 round sweeps since 1991 (note that before 2003, the first round was a best-of-five series). In the first game of round two, those broom handlers posted the following numbers vs the spread:
6-1-1 vs an opponent off a SU Dog win 11-3 vs a foe off back-to-back SUATS wins 10-4 if playing with revenge 13-3-1 against an enemy off a double digit win. 12-5 as a favorite of less than -12 vs an opponent with an inferior record.
There have been 40 teams who entered round two off a win in the round one final game (Again, prior to 2003 that would have been game five. Since then, it would be game seven). Of those, 40 teams, those who had a WL% of less than .600, went 3-7 to the number while favorites of more than minus four were 8-1 vs the spread. Note that in these 40 games, the OVER popped up 26 times.
Round two is just around the corner. I hope I’ve prepared the way to the money window for you.
As of May 1st, Tom Scott is
currently on a 5-0-1 role in the NBA playoffs and his three year record on this site is 27-11-2 ATS in this
event. Be sure to check the Guaranteed Picks Page every night there is a game for my winning action.
Teams who reach the second round are either annoyed or overjoyed. They could be annoyed because it took so long to get here or they could be overjoyed because they finally got here. But, we’re not going to try to figure out which Oyed the team is. We’re simply going to look at the opening games of second round action since the 1991 playoffs and see if there is anything worth remembering about them. Surprisingly, there is and I found almost all of it.
6-1-1 vs an opponent off a SU Dog win