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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
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AC's 2005-2006 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 93 Losses: 90 Ties: 3
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 51%
Playoff Record: 11-11 Winning Percentage: 50%
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
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 improved that to a 57% winning percentage against the spread completing the 2004-2005 season.
NBA PLAYOFFS COLUMN & FREE PICKS:
Wow, what a playoffs we have had. Dallas defeated the defending champion Spurs in 7 games despite Tim Duncan setting the playoff whining record (hey Tim, you only get points for putting the ball in the basket, not crying to the ref after every play, jeesh, I haven’t seen that much whining since Rosie O’Donnell had her own tv show), the Suns took out the upstart Clippers in what is likely LA’s last playoff run (yes, they will implode next year, trust me on this one, you do remember Elgin Baylor is the GM and Mike Dunloser is the coach, right?), and the Pistons beat the soon to be king Cavaliers thanks to LeDong’s supporting cast apparently being replaced with the extras from Queer as Folk right before game 7 (and I am not entirely sure what that means, other than the Cavs players sucked worse than a Ray Romano-Robin Williams double feature). Now that I have written the longest opening sentence since Dickens’ classic from a Tale of Two Cities (I said dick, hehehehe), it is time to break down the conference finals match-ups.
There are two things to keep in mind:
1. Your boy AC picked a Mavs-Heat final with the Mavs winning it all before the playoffs started, so it will be difficult to go against that. Interestingly enough, not one of the so-called experts picked those two teams (though I shudder to refer to Jim O’Brien as an expert in anything other than losing basketball games in the ugliest manner). As always, I can’t believe anyone listens to these guys. Seriously, they get paid to follow the crowd, not to actually add value. I mean is there anything less insightful than Reggie Miller breaking down tape on TNT? It’s like he has never seen a basketball game before. I am amazed. I think I could learn more about nuclear physics from Chris “Corky” Burke than I could about basketball from Reggie Miller. I do have to give props to STEVEN A SMITH for calling out Greg Anthony on Anthony’s flip-flopping during an ABC pre-game show. Kudos and hizzah.
2. I am writing this as of Thursday afternoon, when the Suns are up 1-0 and the Heat are up 1-0, so anything after that will not be included in my analysis. We all have deadlines, and unfortunately (or fortunately depending what side you are on), mine involves downloading wonderful pieces of american theatre from www.thebangbus.com so my time (and by time, I mean CPU) is a bit stretched.
Conference Finals Predictions
Heat vs Pistons: Heat in 6
Yes, I have been saying all along that the Pistons are good but not great while the basketball pundits have been overrating them worse, than Mischa Barton, Tupac, and the Black-Scholes options pricing model (I mean it’s great in theory, but try it out in real world and then tell me about your constant volatility assumption. And while we’re here, can we give a shout out to Merton ?). The fact is, if it were not for Dwyane Wyane Wade’s sprained ankle or whatever he had last year, the Heat would have defeated the Pistons. So make the Pistons a year older and the Heat a year more talented and deeper, and you have a series that is not quite as one-sided as people think.
I know Shaq only plays hard for one out of every two minutes, and I know anytime your team features Antoine Walker, you should expect the unexpected, but I just don’t see the Pistons defeating this Heat team. Seriously, how many more kidneys is Alonzo Mourning going to be allowed to go through before he makes it back to the Finals? It’s happening this year, and then if we’re lucky, Mourning and Payton will join Scottie Pippen in the great strip club in the sky.
Suns vs Mavericks: Mavericks in 6
Wow, was game one a complete choke by the Mavericks or a total choke. Up by 5 with a minute and a half to play, the Mavericks decided not only to turn the ball over but to not cover Steve Nash. I bet Stackhouse wouldn’t mishandle a bag of pot as badly as he mishandled the ball.
Nash was amazing in game one, especially as he abused poor Devin Harris on offense, but of course Devin shared the abuse by dropping 30 on the Suns. Anyway, the Mavs are just too deep and too talented for Phoenix over the long haul, especially if Raja Bell is going to miss more than one game. The Suns could beat the Lakers without Bell because they still had more talent than the Lakers, but the Mavs are so deep that the Suns are going to need all the bodies they can get. Losing Bell for any amount of games is a big deal, but the Suns are going to lose anyway so it probably doesn’t matter.
Interestingly enough, I have learned three things while watching the Western Conference playoffs, Steve Nash is actually underrated, Dirk Nowitzki has made the leap, and Marc Cuban is both the craziest and best owner in the league. How is that relevant here? It’s not, but the Mavs should roll in this series.
So without further ado, on to this weeks picks:
NBA PLAYOFF FREE PICKS FOR FRIDAY:
Phoenix +7.5 at Dallas:
Dallas is going to win, but nobody puts Baby in the corner. In other words, you’re not blowing out Steve Nash, sorry guys. Expect the Mavs to go up 15 in the third and the Suns to chip it down to 6 by the end of the game, so double down in the third quarter if you can.
NBA PLAYOFF FREE PICKS FOR SATURDAY:
Detroit at Miami -3:
First of all, I am making this pick in Friday night, so should any news come out or the line change on Saturday, all bets are off. As for the game, the Heat played like crap in game 2 and still kept it reasonably close. I do think that if Detroit is going to sneak one out in Miami, it will be Game 3, so be wary. However, Shaq likes playing at home and Dwyane Wyane Wade is still the best player on the floor. As an aside, I do get worried gambling on a team that lets 58 year old Gary Payton play 35 minutes a night. I mean, I’m not saying Payton has lost a step, but last year on the Celtics I believe Red Auerbach schooled Payton off the dribble.
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