Most of the NBA’s six divisions look like two horse races at best this season, with some, for example the Northwest, the Atlantic and the Central, already decided if you believe the betting odds. However, the Southeast is the one that should really excite basketball betting fans, with three teams all in with a great shot at being crowned outright winners. Read on as we take a closer look at the outright winner betting for the NBA Southeast Division and explain who we think will prevail, offering up the best betting odds and tips around.
Let’s do the easy part first and tell you who won’t win the Southeast this season: Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets. Sorry Magic and Hornets fans, but your sides are way back in the outright winner betting, priced at odds of 66/1 (Sky Bet) and 25/1 (William Hill) respectively.
The other three sides in the division, however, can all make strong claims to having a real shot at glory this year and in terms of the outright NBA Championship betting none can be discounted entirely. Admittedly fans of the Heat would be deemed optimistic if they backed their side at odds of 50/1 to claim a fourth Championship (the previous three having all been garnered since 2006), whilst neither the Atlanta Hawks nor the Washington Wizards are deemed better than 33/1 shots.
That said, strange things happen in sport and whichever of these three sides prevails here in the Southeast will surely feel they have just about as good a chance as anyone of going all the way.
It is the Hawks who just about edge things in the divisional outright betting, with best odds of 15/8 offered by William Hill, whilst Miami can be backed at 19/10 with Bet365 and Washington are 9/4 with Hills, though significantly shorter with some rivals.
Last season the Hawks delivered their fans 35 home wins, their 60-22 record only bettered by eventual NBA champions Golden State. To put that into perspective, Miami had a losing season, 37-45 not helped by a poor home record of 20-21, whilst the Wizards performed well against their divisional rivals to end the regular season at 46-36.
Miami suffered very badly from injuries last season, which explains their poor record, and there are good signs that their post-Big Three evolution is beginning to take shape. No franchise could lose LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh and continue to excel in the NBA but the Heat are slowly but surely putting together a top side once again, but we think it’s still a little early for them and odds of 19/10 here in the Southeast outright market aren’t quite big enough to tempt us.
Having assessed all three potential division winners in great detail we have to agree with the odds men and accept that the bookies have got things right here. Atlanta are marginal favourites for outright divisional success and we think they are just about the value pick at odds not too far shy of 2/1.
The Hawks were swept in the playoffs last season by the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals, despite home court advantage following their franchise-record 60-22 record. We feel that humbling loss will have made them stronger and despite slight concerns about the balance of their team we have to make them our main betting tip here in the outright Southeast winner market.