NBA GAMBLERS HUNTING for angles have long eyed fatigue as an edge to be exploited. A brutal back-to-back set that finishes in Denver? A five-in-seven stretch capped by consecutive games and eastward flights across time zones? NBA squads on the wrong end of such games know they'll likely be taking an L well before tipoff. The term those teams have adopted?
"Schedule losses."
Fatigue swings outcomes. Bettors know it. Players know it. Oddsmakers who set opening betting lines know it -- and, since the early aughts, acknowledge that they've factored it into those betting lines to keep keen-eyed gamblers from taking them to the cleaners.