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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
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AC's 2004-2005 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 102 Losses: 77 Ties: 4
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 57%
Record updated Saturdays and Mondays
Contact AC at ac@wagercom.com or post your questions/comments on the Wagercom Message Board
Read AC's Bio
6/1/05 NBA Playoff Picks - Week 7
AC's outlook on the NBA is an entertaining original column featured here at Wagercom. If you are prone to NBA betting or even just an NBA fan, make sure you come back often to read his articles and free NBA Basketball picks against the spread. AC will be providing us with a weekly outlook during the basketball season including free NBA Basketball picks on some of the weekend games each Friday and Saturday.
Our NBA expert AC wrapped up the 2003-2004 NBA betting season with a 51% winning percentage against the spread on his basketball picks after 190 games and has improved that to a 57% winning percentage against the spread so far this season.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is on. The real playoffs are here and the best four teams remain, no NCAA Cinderella story in the NBA. Your boy AC has not led you wrong, in fact, if you look back I told you it would be Spurs-Pistons before the playoffs started. They are the two best teams, plain and simple. That said, the Pistons are no lock as they are so inconsistent. If the Heat get hot (no pun intended, since the pun sucks), they could pull the series out as they are only down 1-0.
Anyway, before we get to playoff chatter, there are two big stories from the week. First of all, the worst coach in the NBA, Jim O’Braindead, was fired by the 76ers after one lackluster season in which his players hated him, management hated him, and the fans hated him. If you go back to my NBA season preview , this is what I had to say about the Sixers:
Philadelphia: I wish I could buy stock in “under 2 months” for the Iverson-O’Brien falling out. As noted in almost every column I ever wrote, Obie is the worst coach in the history of the NBA. Terrible in game strategy, a terrible game plan, and no desire to develop young players. The season hasn’t started yet and he has already benched Willie Green and Samuel Dalembert for Aaron Mckie and Marc Jackson (though I am a big Jackson fan). Obie will be lucky to last the year no matter what his father-in-law Dr. Quack Ramsey has to say.
In short, Billy King should just hire me and then he wouldn’t have wasted so much money on that clown. My biggest hope is that Isiah hires O’Brien when Phil Jackson turns him down and thus creates the worst team in the history of the NBA. O’Brien and Isiah in charge of the Knicks would be like putting Shawn Kemp in charge of your offseason workout program or letting Onterrio Smith pack your airplane bag. I really hope it happens. As for the Sixers hiring Mo “Ass” Cheeks, it’s not a bad move. I just hope he hires Andrew Toney, Billy Cunningham, and Jeff Ruland as assistant coaches.
The second big story of the week was the draft lottery and the Bucks beating the odds to take the number 1 pick. You gotta love the buzzkill for Bucks fans when the first thing the announcers said after the Bucks got the pick was “the last time Milwaukee drafted #1, they took Glenn Robinson.” That hurt. I do maintain that Glenn Robinson was the best college player of the last 20 years, so you can’t fault them, it just has to hurt.
Anyway, the draft lottery is always my third favorite night of the year after the actual NBA draft and any night I go to the World Famous Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Theatre. I love seeing who the teams will send to represent them. This year’s big winners were the Knicks with John Starks, the Clippers with Mike Dunleavy (thus leaving Elgin Baylor at home for the first time since I believe1968), and my personal favorite, the Raptors with Matt Bonner. Seriously, how did that happen? Was Rafael Araujo busy? I think Bonner thought he was going to be drafted or something.
My two favorite parts of the night though were the presence of the NBA’s VP of security and the interview with Bucks GM Larry Harris. First of all, why was it necessary to have the VP of security standing just out of camera range. I mean seriously, was Ron Artest going to bumrush the stage, steal the envelopes and give the Pacers the first pick? You gotta love the show David Stern puts on.
The second best part of the night was the national airtime given to Bucks GM Larry Harris who apparently is Del Harris’s son, weird. I wonder if Del taught him all he knows about being mediocre. Speaking of mediocre coaches, isn’t it time someone brought back Kevin Lougherty, Doug Moe, or Wes Unseld? Anyway, Larry looked like he was about 16 and resembled Peter Brady (and not 2005 Peter Brady, but Peter Brady circa the 1970s) to the point that when he was interviewed I kept expecting him to break out into “When it’s time to change” http://www.bradyresidence.com/songs.html. During the interview, Larry’s hands were shaking so bad, he couldn’t even show the good luck charms he brought with him. Amazing, and you wonder why the Bucks aren’t going anywhere. If their leader can’t even handle a national interview, how can he negotiate with GMs like Larry Bird and Jerry West. Just weird stuff. I wish they would hold the lottery every day.
As for the Playoffs, I think we are seeing the Spurs emerge as the dominant team. They are almost like the Patriots in the NFL in that they go out there and just win, no matter what their opponent’s style. They are just strong all around and thanks to Isiah Thomas, can roll Nazr Mohammed out there to back up Duncan on the boards. Nazr creates a lot of space for Duncan to be effective. I would make the obligatory Robert Horry joke as well, but he is actually playing solidly. Losing Joe Johnson has really hurt the Suns. Neither team is very deep and with the up and down style of play, the more subs you can utilize, the better. I think the Suns will pull out 2 games, but the Spurs are just better. I do have to say that Steve Nash has been the most impressive player in the playoffs, even moreso than Dwyane “Wyane” Wade. You can argue about MVP all daylong (My vote would have been for Shaq, but in retrospect, I should have looked closer at AI.) but Nash has been a stud.
The more interesting series is the Heat-Pistons because the Heat are such a wild card. It is difficult to say which Heat team will show up mainly because of Shaq’s health. Tayshaun and Billups did a number on Wade in game one but I expect the Heat to adjust to that. Miami’s real problem is that their bench is not deep. They don’t have anyone to come in and give Wade some rest or take over for 2-3 minutes. This is where they are going to lose as my boy Udonis just can’t compete with the Wallaces.
Free NBA Picks:
Wednesday's NBA Playoff Picks:
Ok, I took it on the chin last night with the Pistons hot shooting and the 89 million free throws attempted by both teams. I should have taken the Pistons who I thought would win by 7, but instead went with the under which means no $$ for last night’s game. I’ll try to make up for it tonight.
San Antonio at Phoenix Over 214:
San Antonio is going to have to outscore the Suns to win this game and I assume they want to win. Take the over and enjoy the track show.
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