Understanding sports bettting?

Question

Lakers +5 -140

Celtics -5 +120

Over/under 95

These are the current states for the Game 6 if I was going to bet am i betting on the spread or the money or is the money based on the spread?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

The spread is +/-5.  The Celtics -4 means they are the favorite.  Usually these figures are -110 for pointspreads, but bookies will change them around if they are getting a heavy volume of bets on one side.  The Lakers +5 means they are underdogs, and cannot lose by more than 5 points to win the bet.  If they lose exactly by 5, then it is a Push.  When ever you see point spreads with halfs (i.e. -5.5) then the favorite would have to win by 6 to win the bet.  This eliminates the possibility of the Push (aka tie).  

The -140 next to it is a different, "moneyline" bet.  It means you have to bet $140 to win $100 on the Celts tonight since they are favored.  The +120 means that to bet on the underdog, you will win $120 for every $100 bet.

Over/Under 195 is the bet for the total score of the game.  Usually the payouts are -110.  The lines on the pointspreads, over/unders, and moneylines are all proportional to the amount you actually bet.