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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
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AC's Wagercom 2008-2009 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 54 Losses: 51 Ties: 0
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 51%
Contact AC at ac(at sign)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 6 consecutive winning seasons picking NBA games against the spread making 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 2008-2009 NBA FREE PICKS WEEK 13:
We’re at the halfway mark of a season which has been filled with intrigue. Is this the best rookie class in years (Rose, Westbrook, Mayo, Gordon, Lopez, Beasley, Love)? Can anyone stop LeDong? Has Jameer Nelson made the leap or has the first half been a mirage? At what point does Vince Carter quit (I say in about 3 weeks)? How much do the Sixers regret signing Elton Brand? Is Chauncey Billups really that much better for a team than Allen Iverson (yes, yes, and yes)? Will McGrady, Artest, and Yao Ming ever all be healthy on the same day? And which STD did Dwyane Wyane Wade give his ex-wife (I’ll go with gonorrhea with a slight chance of herpes)?
It has been a fantastic season which will only get better and has the makings of being finifugal for the real NBA fan. As we are half way in, I will re-adjust my preseason picks and highlight the best and worst predictions I made in order to help you understand what is going to happen in the second half and how the NBA varied from expectations.
Eastern Conference:
Overall: Not a bad job. AC correctly picked 7 out of the 8 playoff teams only swinging and missing on Toronto in place of Milwaukee (and if any of you had Milwaukee slotted in for a playoff spot, I take my jimmy hat off to you). Boston, Cleveland, and Orlando have separated themselves from the pack like George Clooney and Geri Jewell did from the cast of The Facts of Life (and for the record, I was always a Jo over Blair guy, but after Tootie grew a rack, it changed everything). Atlanta, Detroit, and Philadelphia (as long as Brand does not come back and defecate on their parade) have sewn up the middle of the East while there is a lot of competition for the last two spots. Since Orlando is more a pretender than a contender, as witnessed by the Celtics domination of them the other night, the top spot is going to come down to the Cavs and the Celtics with the Cavs having LeDong and the better team and the Celtics having the better schedule. It should be close but this is LeDong’s year. Sorry KG.
Best Pick: Miami Heat
The Heat were picked to finish out of the playoff race by most prognosticators but AC knew that Dwyane Wyane Wade did more than just dish out STDs (and yes I have used that joke twice already, but like herpes, it is the joke that keeps on giving). It doesn’t take much in the East to get a bottom playoff spot and a player like Wade is worth at least 30 wins a year all by himself. While Miami has significant holes in their line-up, like center, point guard, power forward, and bench, Dequan Cook has been filling it up from outside and the combo of Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley has been adequate.
Worst Pick: New Jersey Nets
This is a tough one because picking the Wizards to contend for the last playoff spot was pretty bad as was picking Toronto to finish sixth as they have imploded like Gerald “The Scarecrow” Green’s brain while trying to do long division. Also, picking Atlanta only eighth was also not my finest moment. However, picking the Nets to finish dead last was clearly not a good prediction. What I missed is that Brook Lopez has been playing near all-star level averaging 14 points and 9 rebounds over the past month while shooting 50% from the floor and 86% from the line, Devin Harris has been healthy and unleashed, and Vince Carter got all of the sand out of his vagina for the entire first 40 games. So the Nets have had three all-star caliber players and a decent coach which is enough to sneak up on teams in the first half.
Due to move up in the second half: Charlotte Bobcats
I can’t believe I am actually picking this but I also can’t believe people liked Slumdog Millionaire, find Madonna attractive, or read Chuck Klosterman. However, Charlotte has won 7 out of 10, they have a coach who is trying to win now, and a roster made up of veterans who are just good enough to beat younger teams while not quite good enough to beat the upper tier teams. Emeka Okafor has been playing well, the Felton-Augustin back court has been surprisingly solid, and Gerald Wallace has the ability to take over games when he is not too busy forgetting the plays. The Boris Diaw-Raja Bell trade has brought them two solid glue guys and giving away talent for DeSagana Diop was a good short term move. We all know their roster is crappy going forward, we all know they are really a mediocre team at best, but they are good enough to fight others off for the last playoff spot because they won’t tank at the end.
Due to move down in the second half: New Jersey Nets
Even though I just discussed their three all-star caliber players, I am not buying that they can keep it up. Vince Carter is eventually going to have his urinary tract infection come back, Devin Harris is likely going to cool down or quit on his coach after being benched this week, and their second team is worse than a Ray Romano stand-up routine. If I could short one team, the Nets would be it.
Western Conference:
Overall: The West is not as top heavy as the East or Mimi Rogers, but they have an abundance of bottom feeders. There are nine teams with a legitimate chance of making the playoffs and eight of them are within 5.5 games of each other. Once again AC picked 7 out of the 8 playoff teams, only whiffing on the Nuggets but to be fair, the Nuggets were not in the top 8 before they traded Iverson and AC could not have known that would happen. So given the information at the beginning of the year, AC was 7 for 7. The race for seeding should be exciting and five teams could win this Conference (Lakers, Rockets, Jazz, Spurs, Whorenets) depending on health (and I mean you Carlos Boozer and Ron Artest). While the Lakers have pretty much wrapped up home court advantage, the Gasol-Bynum-Odom trio still has the toughness of a Care Bear (and not any Care Bear, but a Care Bear that likes other Care Bears of the same gender, not that there is anything wrong with that) so they are not guaranteed a Finals appearance.
Best Pick: Portland Trailblazers
The Blazers missed out on the playoffs last year and many still thought they were too young, too inexperienced, and too injury prone to contend this year. However, they just have way too much talent and are way too deep (not quite Turgenev deep, but at least short story Tolstoy deep) to miss the playoffs. Their second team is better than many starting line-ups and Greg Oden is only going to get better (and yes AC is still on the Oden bandwagon). While many thought the Blazers would still be on the outside looking in come playoff time, AC knew they were just too talented and too well coached.
Worst Pick: New Orleans Whorenets
Looking at the standings, Denver would appear to be AC’s worst pick but as discussed earlier, the Nuggets have been propelled by an in-season trade which AC could not have predicted. Therefore, the Whorenets have been the worst pick because instead of rising to the top of the standings and making the leap, they have been stuck in the middle of the pack due to injuries and lack of cohesion. While James Posey should pay dividends in the playoffs, he has not been able to push the Whorenets to the next tier in the regular season. Though David West and Tyson Chandler have been injured for parts of the season, even if fully healthy, New Orleans would not have overtaken the Lakers.
Due to move up in the second half: Oklahoma City Thunder
This team has been playing very well as of late. Kevin Durant is doing more than just scoring now as he has averaged 27 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists over the last month while shooting 47.5% from the floor and 90% from the line. Those are just ridiculous numbers. Add in the solid play of Jeff Green, the emergence of Russell Westbrook (17 points, 5 assists, and 5 boards over the last month), and solid veterans such as Nick Collison and Joe Smith (who could be dealt any day), and you have the makings of a nice little team. While the Thunder are going to be my sleeper pick for next year (remember you heard it here first), they should improve enough in the second half to make the most astute NBA fans pay attention.
Due to move up in the second half: Denver Nuggets
They’ll still make the playoffs but I just can’t buy a team who starts Nene “One Deez” Hilario at center and Kenyon Martin at power forward. Those two are more fragile than Britney Spears psyche. They have surprisingly been playing well without Carmelo Anthony, and while his return is imminent, I’m just not sold on this team as being the third best in the West.
FRIDAY NIGHT FREE NBA PICKS
Houston at Indiana Under 210:
We know the Pacers can score and we know Houston is better when they don’t score. Either Indiana dictates the offense or Houston manages to slow the game down enough to hit the under. Given that there is a chance of a Ron Artest sighting tonight and given that he could remove Danny Granger’s head from his body should he enter the game, the under seems like the right pick. And remember, any day Von “Nila” Wafer could turn back into Darren Daye from his current Kevin Gamble existence. Just hope that is tonight.
Memphis at New York Over 201:
Memphis will be playing with a new coach tonight as Marc Iavaronni was given the heave ho by Chris “The Destroyer of Teams” Wallace. Of course none of it matters for Memphis until Wallace goes as we have proven time after time, you can’t polish a turd. With a new coach, Memphis will probably play a bit looser than usual as the pressure will be off a bit in the brief honeymoon phase. We know the Knicks like to score and hate defense so take the over and watch the track meet.
New Orleans -1 at Minnesota:
I know the Whorenets are likely without West and Chandler and I know the TerribleWolves™ have been playing well as of late. However, the day I take the TerribleWolves™ and fewer than 10 points against any good team is the day I cease finding blumpkins romantic. Since you all know I believe in romance, taking the Whorenets here is the right pick. After all, Sebastian Telfair has as much chance of stopping Chris Paul as he does of solving the Poincare Conjecture for objects in fewer than 3 dimensions.
Toronto at Chicago -2:
The Raptors are shitting the bed like a newborn with two assholes. They have lost 7 in a row and are starting to have some internal squabbles. I’d say Jermaine O’Neal is toast, but that would be an insult to toast. Given that, the smart play would be to take the Raptors and hope for some mean reversion but the Bulls have also sucked as of late so they are due for mean reversion as well. When both teams are due to regress to the mean, and the line is negligible, take the home team and avoid watching.
SATURDAY FREE NBA PICKS
The mid-season slump continues so feel free to bet against me until I can get the ship righted. I do not take losing lightly so trust me, this hurts me much more than it hurts you, but have faith in AC that he will figure things out and once again fill your pockets with enough dollar bills to not just get the lap dance, but to enjoy the champagne room.
New Jersey -1 at Memphis:
The Nets have lost 5 in a row and are coming off an emotional defeat to the Spurs while the Grizzlies simply suck. Lionel Hollins may be there tonight to coach Memphis for the third unsuccessful time which is even more reason to bet against Memphis. This game could be one of the worst games of the year, and typically you want to take the home team in a game like that but since Memphis draws like 3 fans a game, home court is irrelevant. Take the Nets, hope Vince Carter shows up, and pretend this never happened.
Washington at Portland -11:
Wizard, please.
Cleveland at Utah Under 195.5:
The Jazz have been filling it up like a Kim Kardashian bikini bottom but the Cavs love playing defense. Given that Cleveland may be tired from playing at Golden Shower State last night, their only chance of winning is to slow the game down. LeDong knows that, Mike Brown knows that, and soon the Jazz will know that.
New York at Philadelphia Under 207:
Elton’s back and slower than before
Uh-oh, uh-oh, Elton’s back
He’ll slow the Sixers, down to a snore
Uh-oh, uh-oh Elton’s back
Everyone can see him coming’
He’s gon-na, keep the Sixers from running
Uh-oh, uh-oh, Elton’s back.
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