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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS |
Contact AC at ac@wagercom.com
01/09/04 Week 11 Free NBA Picks Against the Spread
I am excited to announce the addition of our new NBA Basketball expert analyst AC Titticock. While leafing through resumes prior to selecting our new NBA Basketball gambling expert it became clear that AC was the man for the job. Not only did his analysis come across entertaining but it was clear he knew the NBA and about betting on basketball. I am confident you will find his outlook on the NBA extremely useful especially when it comes to his weekly free NBA Basketball picks against the spread. AC will be providing us with a weekly outlook and his free NBA Basketball picks on some of the weekend games each Friday and sometimes Saturday as well.
AC has started the NBA betting season with a 52% winning percentage against the spread on his NBA basketball picks after 69 games.
NBA BASKETBALL WEEK 11
The big news of the past week was Isiah Thomas pulling the trigger and bringing NYC’s finest, Stephon Marbury home. I spent an entire column ripping apart Zeke for his idiocy and then he goes and does something that makes me scratch my head and wonder. Can Isiah Thomas really have made a shrewd move? Does “Everybody” in Everybody Loves Raymond include me? Is the Acie Earl retro jersey going to be the biggest seller of the year? No, no, no. None of these can be true and yet I am intrigued by the Marbury move. From a business standpoint, I actually think it was a brilliant short term fix for the Knicks. With Marbury and Houston, they have the best backcourt in the East and now have a very solid starting 5. This is the type of team that can lose to Indiana in the Eastern conference finals, and I am not making that up.
More importantly though, Marbury will bring people to the garden, Marbury will generate interest in the Knicks again, Marbury may even shoot more times than Allen Houston. I guarantee the Marbury Knicks jersey will be a top seller, Ka-ching, Isiah, Ka-ching. However, this Knicks team reminds me of the Celtics from two years ago, good enough to contend in the East but not good enough to win a title. They are the upper end of mediocrity and now have their hands somewhat tied with three maximum contracts plus no draft picks. Just like the Celtics realized they needed to get rid of Toine to go all the way, the Knicks will eventually realize that they will need to get rid of Marbury to go all of the way. Shoot first, pass second point guards don’t make it in the league, especially one that has been on 5 teams in 7 years.
As an aside, Marbury being teamed again with Van Horn is the number one reason ESPN needs to do a “The Life” episode with the Knicks. I would trade my Acie Earl jersey to watch Marbury and Van Horn interact. It’s like watching a wrestling match, you know the steel chair is coming eventually but you may have to wait twenty minutes before it happens.
So what did this trade accomplish? Brought cash into MSG, gave the Knicks a few more wins, and also handcuffed them even more for years to come. I guess with picks like Frederick Weis, who needs first rounders anyway? As for the Suns, Barbosa has stepped right in and averaged 20+ points in the two games post-Marbury. If they pick up a big time free agent who understands the game to team up with Amare, they will be in great shape. Plus they get the added bonus of draft picks with Macej Lampe thrown in just for kicks. If I had to grade the trade, from a business standpoint I give Isiah an A (ugh, did I just say that? It’s like admitting that I’ve watched Trading Spaces and timed my bathroom usage so I wouldn’t miss them showing the finished rooms) but from a hoops standpoint I give him a C. I give the Suns a B all around. The real question is, what the hell was Scott Layden doing all that time? In two weeks, Isiah has generated more buzz than Layden did in his total time in NYC. Well done Scott, being out GM’d by Isiah is like being less funny than Ellen Degeneres or having a bigger penis than Rosie O’Donnell, just hard to do.
Anyway, on to the free nba picks for Friday, I hit you all up to the tune of 3-0 last Saturday so let’s build on that:
NBA BASKETBALL PICKS FOR FRIDAY 1/09/04
Cleveland +6.5 at Boston:
The Celtics are really not a good team. Cleveland will keep them close with their new look defense and continued evolution of LeDong. This will be a close game, not sure who wins, but Cleveland is not going to lose by 7.
Memphis at Seattle -4.5:
The Sonics have been playing well since the return of Ray Allen. They recently beat Memphis in Memphis so there may be some payback here from the Grizzlies. However, I still think the Sonics take this one by 6.
Utah +6 at Denver:
Sloan will have the Jazz ready to fend off Melo. Utah plays too well to let the Nuggets run away with this. Take the Jazz and enjoy the passing game.
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Check the current point spreads and game lines.
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