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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
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AC's Wagercom 2006-2007 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 60 Losses: 62 Ties: 1
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 49%
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 has had 3 consecutive winning seasons picking NBA games against the spread for a combined 317-281 record yielding a 53% winning percentage which would have won you money including the VIG. AC does this out of the kindness of his heart and for the naked pictures of your girlfriends you send him as a token of your appreciation. So enjoy the columns and the picks..
AC'S NBA BASKETBALL FREE PICKS WEEK 16:
It is a sad sad week for Wagercom.com and basketball fans everywhere with the passing of the great Dennis Johnson. DJ was the best guard on the best team ever (the ’85-’86 Boston Celtics) and certainly belongs in the Hall of Fame. Before I get to this week’s column, there are three things about DJ you should all remember.
1. The once a game bullet pass to Bird under the basket that buzzed right by defenders’ ears. Bird would give DJ a look and DJ would sizzle a pass to Larry for an easy lay-up. Rarely do you ever see this play, much less guaranteed once per game,
2. The “poke check” defensive steal as Heinsohn and Cousy called it. DJ would be at the top of the key, guarding the other team’s point guard, and then when least expected, DJ would reach around and poke the ball away. He did this at least 1-2 times per game. Again, nobody else has done this since. Someone once asked DJ how he gets so many steals and he said he goes for the ball as it is coming up from the floor on a dribble, not when the other player has it in his hand and is about to dribble. I always found that to be pretty smart.
3. DJ could shoot 0-10 in the first 3 quarters but then would not miss in the fourth. He always canned the foul line extended jumper when he was left open in crunch time. It never looked pretty, but it almost always went in the hoop.
So pour some out for DJ (he was from Compton after all), a big loss for basketball fans everywhere.
Now for this week’s column I would usually give my trade deadline analysis, but since there were no actual trades of any relevance, that will likely be put off until next week, or until Latrell Sprewell gets to see his kids, whichever comes first.
Instead, this week will be AC’s annual NBA-Academy Awards column where I take the best picture nominees and compare them to NBA themes, so sit back, put on your reading glasses, and leave Pac Man Jones’ sacks of money alone.
The Queen: This goes to none other than John Amaechi, who if you have been living on the planet Uranus (hehe, I said “your anus,” or “urine us,” take your pick) for the past month and haven’t seen the news, came out as a gay former NBA player. Now here at Wagercom.com, we could really care less if you are straight, gay, black, white, or screw pigs for fun (and Jiggy still claims it was consensual no matter what the pig oinks, but I digress).
Seriously, no big deal, really. I mean how surprised should we be that John Amaechi is gay, after all, he is British. What’s next, is he going to tell us he has bad teeth too? The only noteworthy thing to come out of this is apparently Tim Hardaway hates Rudy Gay, because I am pretty sure no one in this day and age would be stupid enough and ignorant enough to go on national radio and say he hates gay people. He must have just been referring to Rudy, right? Although I have to say, Hardaway (and I just realized “Hardaway” would be a great name for a gay porn flick, perhaps that is where the anger comes from) does a great job of appearing even more ignorant in this Scoop Jackson interview. Timmy really needs some PR.
Oh yeah, one more odd tidbit. When AC was a young student at Northwestern University, home of bad chinese food and even worse college basketball, he attended an NU-Penn State hoops game with some friends which featured a young John Amaechi. One of AC’s friends observed that John Amaechi runs funny, and upon learning that he is British, attributed it to that. A prescient observation by one of Titticock’s acquaintances.
Babel: This goes to the Milwaukee Bucks who like Babel, nobody has ever seen and those who have seen it, have walked out. The Bucks are quietly having an awful year due to injuries and simply having bad players. They start a guy named Charlie Bell and the perennial third stringer, Brian Skinner. Not only that, but some dude named Ersan Ilyasova (from the Turkish root “Potapanko”) usually gets 10-15 minutes a night. They have dealt with injuries to Redd, Bobby Simmons, and Villanueva, which have led to many losses, but even with those three they would be a 35 win team at best. Perhaps David Stern should just combine them with the Bobcats and move them both to Vegas.
Letters from Iwo Jima: This goes to Yao Ming who was having an MVP year until being derailed by injuries. And yes I know Yao is Chinese and Iwo Jima is in Japan, but work with me here. Before being injured, Yao was averaging 25 points, 9.5 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks per game all while shooting 52% from the floor and 87% from the line. It doesn’t get much more dominant than that. I keep telling you, if/when Yao gets healthy, the Rockets will be difficult to beat.
The Departed: This goes to the Boston Celtics who in one year have lost Red Auerbach, Dennis Johnson, and their dignity. In four years, Danny Ainge has managed to turn the Celtics into a terrible team from simply a bad team. He has made awful free agent signings (Dan Dickau and Brian Scalacrappi), marginal to awful trades (why would we need Brandon Roy when we could get Sebastien Telfair and the decaying Theo Ratliff?), and stood by a coach who understands strategy like Scottie Pippen does finance.
It is sad how bad the Celtics have become and how overrated their young players are. If Al Jefferson is so talented, why does he play defense every 5th possession? And if the whole roster is so talented, why are the 76ers 5 games above them in the standings without a franchise player or anyone close to all-star level? And if Danny is such a good GM, how did Brian Colangelo turn around an inferior Toronto team in one year while Danny has barely treaded water in four years?
The team is awful, the players are overrated, the coach is a joke, and the GM stinks. Welcome to Boston Greg Oden, enjoy your stay.
Little Miss Sunshine: This goes to Allen Iverson who has been all smiles since getting traded out of Philadelphia. While the Nuggets have struggled since AI joined them (I believe they are 2-5 with AI and Melo in the line-up), AI has been a much happier person. He is more cordial to the press and by all accounts more easy going and laid back. Hey, good for AI, I am glad he can get away from the pressure of living and playing in Philadelphia. The honeymoon may not last much longer, but he should enjoy it while he can. I still think the Nuggets put it together in time for the playoffs. They have too much talent and George Karl is actually a good enough coach to figure it out (you hear that Doc Rivers?).
Friday Night NBA Picks
Detroit at Orlando +3:
Hey Dwight Howard, repeat after me, "There's no place like home, There's no place like home." The Magic are 18-10 at home and 9-18 on the road which should bode well since tonight they are playing at Casa de Mickey in Orlando. I know the Magic have been dreadful lately, but they did beat the Spurs in Orlando the other week and Portland at home last week in their only 2 home games since February 3rd. We know Dwight Howard is a beast, just hope Jameer Nelson can do anything to get away from Detroit's stifling defense. Also, RaWeed Wallace getting ejected would be helpful as well.
Houston -4.5 at Atlanta:
I can name all of the things I like about the Hawks using no words. The Rockets are notorious for playing down to the level of their competition (and I may have just made that up, but work with me here) but any kind of effort will allow them to shut the Hawks down completely. With Mutombo playing as if he is only 34 years old instead of 52, and McGrady enjoying his role as a distributor, the Rockets should roll.
Boston at Los Angeles -7.5:
The Lakers have to be pissed about their losing streak and failure to improve at the trade deadline so what better way to get over that than taking it out on their feeble former arch nemesis the Celtics (and it kills me to write this since I am a Celtics fan). Kobe is going for 40, Odom for 25, and the Celtics will likely be down 20 before they make their patented 4th quarter comeback before finally losing by 12. You think the Celtics might come out with some intensity and pride and try to win this for DJ, but I am guessing Al Jefferson and Gerald Green don't know Dennis Johnson from Sidney Wicks. Ugh.
Phoenix -6 at Minnesota:
The Wolves ended the Suns' 17 game winning streak, so there might be a small revenge factor here. There is also likely this big factor called the Wolves being really really crappy and the Suns being really really good. Watching Mark Blount chase Amare Stoudemire up court will be like watching that Ashley Simpson chick try to sing live, in other words, it will only have comic value and you hope nobody gets seriously hurt. Take the Suns and hope Raja Bell is on from 3.
Saturday Night NBA Picks:
First of all, thanks to the Magic for choking in the 4th quarter last night, really, that was great of you. I appreciate it.
Philadelphia +6.5 at Milwaukee:
Neither team is good and when two bad teams play, 6.5 points is way too big of a separation. I know the Sixers are horrible on the road, but just close your eyes and hope it ends quickly.
Denver at Dallas over 208:
Denver has slowed their pace down a bit but Dallas is a team that is willing to run so this should be a high scoring affair. Just hope for Melo, AI, and Dirk to all hit 30 points.
Boston at Utah Under 210:
If you can tease this with Utah -8, then you will be eating lobster tail at the World Famous Mitchell Brother’s O’Farrell Theatre all week long. The Celtics are not just bad, they are all-time bad and this is their second of back to back nights on the road. You just have to hope the Jazz put their scrubs in early or play defense for one quarter in order to hit the under. Is Al Jefferson an all-star yet?
Seattle at San Antonio -10:
I hate giving 10 points, especially as the Sonics have been playing well as of late. However, I do believe in mean reversion which means the Sonics are due for a stinker and what better place to have that happen than in San Antonio. The Spurs usually easily handle games like this and as long as they play 2 quarters of defense, this should be a blow out.
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