Handicapping Question

[bullshooter]

I have always heard that home football teams get 3 points at home when handicapping.

When handicapping basketball NBA AND NCAA does anyone start off giving the home team 1 or 2 points. For basketball i have never heard anyone say.
Thanks

[rfr3sh]

home advantage varies team to team but is generally set at 3 for nba

[donkdown]

Id say its more than 3 more like 5

[jgilmartin]

If I wanted to figure this out, I'd try team stat splits.

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/team/_/stat/team-comparison-per-game

[suicidekings]

Home court advantage averages 3.1 points, but varies dramatically from team to team. One team in the NBA this year actually has a better road point differential than at home, so applying the +/-3 across the board will not give good results.

[That Foreign Guy]

Do you think that team is a) Variance or B) An exception?