Basketball Road Trips and Grueling Travel Time

It’s no fun for basketball teams to take road trips. So many variables come into play that it’s essential for serious handicappers to know when teams are heading out on road trips, even three or four game trips. Bettors need to beware of the obstacles involved, as a change in scenery for a sports team can mean more change at the betting window.

Traveling a long way to a game can alter subtle dynamics in a team’s chemistry and depth. Look what happened last month when the Seattle Supersonics when on a 5-game December road trip.

Sonics vs:
Dec. 12 at Milwaukee (+5) 94-93 loss
Dec. 13 at Chicago (+9) 99-84 loss
Dec. 15 at Cleveland (+8) 106-84 loss
Dec. 17 at Detroit (+6) 97-93 loss
Dec. 18 at Memphis (+4) 134-126 loss

It was a grueling stretch, playing 5 games in 7 nights. Worse, all those games were on the road. Oddsmakers smartly made the Sonics a dog each game, even against the terrible Grizzlies, but Seattle still went 1-3 against the spread after showing some spunk in the first game. It’s not a surprise that they came closest to winning that first game. First games of road trips can be the easiest, but after that, all the road travel can take a toll on the team’s energy.

It’s obvious as to why these letdowns happen, but many bettors make the mistake of focusing solely on match-ups and statistics, failing to take into consideration outside factors like road trips and 5 games in 7 nights, for instance.

Think of the difficulties that players experience in those situations: long plane rides, constant movement, little time to rest, changing time zones that can affect sleeping patterns (jetlag), various hotels, bus rides to the airport/hotel/gymnasiums, even different food, and a whole string of other annoying alterations. That’s a lot of disruption to everyday routines that can create as much mental exhaustion as physical. And this can affect how an individual athlete or a team plays.

Also, teams that have a lot of depth on the bench can survive better under those conditions than teams with a strong starting five and little bench. Totals players should pay close attention to a team’s depth and travel distance for certain games. In that last example, the Sonics were playing the run-and-gun Memphis Grizzlies and gave up 134 points, a game that sailed over the total by 70 points!

Even flying coast to coast can be grueling. Remember that a team like Seattle is from the northwest corner of the US and has a longer way to travel than teams from, say, Utah, Chicago or Dallas. So make sure you look beyond stats during the basketball season and consider other key factors, like how travel can affect a team. Because there are many keys to winning wagering, and road trips for basketball teams unleashes many important variables that need to be considered.

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