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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: 80 Losses: 65 Ties: 0
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 55%
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 19:
With the season three quarters of the way over, it is time to look at the three biggest trends we have seen in the NBA this year and compare them to three of the current biggest trends in American culture. The NBA truly is a microcosm of our society, like MTV, the Discovery Channel, and www.youporn.com all wrapped into one.
American cultural trend: The youth leading the charge as witnessed by Twitter/Facebook
NBA trend: The contributions of the rookie class
You can’t go more than 30 minutes without hearing someone talk about Facebook or Twitter. Everyone is “tweeting” from Shaq to John McCain (though it is unclear that McCain is actually the one typing the messages since he is old, senile, and still hasn’t figured out how to operate indoor plumbing). In addition to “tweeting,” the whole world now seemingly has a Facebook page and I can’t really figure out why. I can understand high school and college kids wanting to pick up random chicks, but if you’re in your 30s, do you really need to connect with the girl you went to kindergarten with who picked her nose and ate her boogers? Seriously?
The thing about Twitter and Facebook is that they started with the kids, the young people of our day. When they weren’t making crystal meth, listening to L’il Wayne, or speaking improper english, the younger generation of this country started these two social networking trends. Trends are always started this way but with our technological breakthroughs of the last 15 years, it is much easier to spread ideas. So while Wacky Wall Walkers took years to take off and were only a regional thing back in the day, these new fads spread faster and are more pervasively than the herpes of a 40 year old hooker.
Just like the youth are starting to dominate our culture, they are also taking over the NBA. This year featured one of the deepest NBA drafts in recent memory. Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, OJ Mayo, Brook Lopez, Eric Gordon, and Michael Beasley are not just in the league, but they are strong contributors. Also DJ Augustin, Marreese Speights, Courtney Lee, George Hill, and I could go on and on, are putting up numbers. Only ten of the top thirty picks have yet to make an impact in their first year and that is phenomenal. Add in that 2nd year player Kevin Durant is about to put the league on his back and win 10 consecutive scoring titles and you have a league well positioned for years to come thanks to the youth.
American cultural trend: Intelligence and Teamwork is becoming cool
NBA trend: Winning teams are valuing intelligence over athletes
Thanks to Barack Obama, being stupid is no longer chic. We’re done with the lost eight years of the anti-intelligence party who thought creationism, Larry the Cable Guy, borrowing more than you earn, and hard headedness were things to be valued. Stupidity is never something to be proud of and is why we are currently in the financial situation we are in today.
However, the new president (whether you like him or not) thinks about issues, tries to build a forum for discussion, and probably has read more than just the funny pages. It’s cool to be smart, it’s cool to be able to see the merits of both sides of an issue, and it’s cool to believe in science. The nerds are taking over and this country needs that more than Dead Souls needs an ending or Paris Hilton needs panties.
This is similar to the NBA where GMs like Daryl Morey are starting to take a more statistical approach to the game, valuing players who can do the little things rather than just run and jump. If you watched the Celtics-Cavaliers game last night you saw two very intelligent teams playing great team defense, working together, and making the extra pass. There was no one on one basketball, no showboating, and no stupid turnovers (mainly because Tony Allen was injured).
One of the reasons the draft last year was so good is that teams stopped reaching for the athletic Euros. Another reason is that athletic high school players were forced to go to a year of college and thus sink if all they brought was leaping ability. The best teams play the smartest basketball and every team is trying to emulate that. The god awful one on one playground game that almost ruined the NBA in the 1990s is going the way of starting wars based on lies and basking in the hue of ignorance (and it’s not clear that ignorance has a hue, but if it did, I bet it would pink).
American cultural trend: The rise of the Cougar/Milf and older female teachers banging their students
NBA trend: The return of Shaq
In the past several years, older women have started to let it hang out more and more. Not only are they showing more but they are no longer ashamed of dating younger guys in public (or perhaps it is the other way around).
Additionally, I don’t know if it’s just the internet being able to spread this news faster than in the past, but it seems like every week some female teacher is itching to get some 15 year old johnson. Just google “female teacher sex” and about a bazillion stories come up and a lot of these teachers are pretty hot like her, or her, or her, or just see them all here. Older women wanting to dominate younger men is a huge trend in our society.
While I would never call Shaq a woman (and if you’re reading this Shaq, and I know you are, you are all man and Stan Van Gundy can eat a fattie. We cool now?), he has rejuvenated himself and is now starting to dominate the younger big men in the league on the court like these cougars and teachers are doing to younger men in the bedroom. Not only was Shaq the co-mvp of the all-star game this year, but he is averaging 18 points and 9 rebounds in only 30 minutes per game. He just played Dwight Howard to a draw and is regularly the best big man on the court even though he is 37 and seemingly hasn’t cared about basketball in about 5 years. Shaq is back, for now, imparting his wisdom and will on the younger big men in the league like a wise old cougar.
FRIDAY NIGHT FREE NBA PICKS
Atlanta at Charlotte Over 182.5:
The Hawks are still trying to find themselves after a hot first few months and the Bobcats have recently found themselves to the tune of a four game winning streak which I think matches their total number of wins for the past 2 years. Charlotte is getting the reputation of a defensive team but the Hawks can easily jack up 95 points with their offensive weapons. In that case, you just need the Bobcats to score 88 points and here’s a hint for you playing at home: Charlotte is averaging over 100 points a game in their last 5 games. Shhhh. Take the over before people catch on to the Bobcats.
Cleveland at Boston -1.5:
There is absolutely no way the Celtics win this game without Kevin Garnett which is exactly why we are taking the Celtics and giving the points. Rajon Rondo is going to run all over Cleveland and Ray Allen is going to bomb away. Plus, Doc Rivers may throw Bill Walker out there for a couple of minutes just to annoy LeDong. Never underestimate the heart of a champion.
Golden Shower State at Detroit Over 208.5:
When you get a chance to take the over on Golden Shower State on a line of under 210 points, you take it. Even though they have been struggling to score since they love not being healthy and even though they are playing in Detroit, the Warriors will still put up points. Scoring to the Warriors is like ignorance to Rush Limbaugh, you don’t get one without the other. Take the over and root for Rodney Stuckey to push the ball for Detroit and the Warriors to have at least 3 of their normal starters playing.
Washington at San Antonio -12.5:
The Spurs are one of only 3 teams we ever happily take and give over 13 points. At home they are an efficient machine, kind of like a refrigerator, and you wouldn’t bet against a refrigerator, would you? Unless maybe the refrigerator was fighting a grizzly bear or Ray Lewis. The Wizards are not just bad, they are the poster child for contraction (and maybe even the poster child for the contraction of herpes, you hear that Deshawn Stevenson?). So take the Spurs and hope they are interested for at least a quarter.
SATURDAY NIGHT FREE NBA PICKS
Miami at Cleveland -9:
They both played last night but only one of them got their shit handed to them by their biggest rival (and I mean Cleveland for those of you not paying attention). The Cavs have to be pissed after getting pushed around and abused for 48 minutes by Glen Davis, Leon, Powe, Mikki Moore, and Kendrick Perkins. There is no way LeDong does not come out and just demolish Miami. The Heat not only don’t have anyone to guard LeDong but they aren’t going to want this game as much as Cleveland. Take the Cavs and watch out.
Philadelphia -4.5 at Memphis:
The Sixers have hit a mini-slump and what better way to get out of a slump then to play the Chris Wallace built Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis has won 1 consecutive game so they are streaking, but the Sixers have the ability to run them out of the building should they be properly motivated. As long as Andre Miller doesn’t get food poisoning, Philadelphia should be able to win this by 8-12 points.
Charlotte at New York Over 206:
AC told you last night that Charlotte is really filling it up and thanks to that we all won a bunch of lap dances. We know the Knicks like to score and now we know Charlotte likes to score too (and remember, we’re keeping this quiet so don’t tell the bookies). So take the over and root for Nate Robinson to run, run run.
Washington at Dallas -13:
Taking Dallas and giving 13 points is not something we like to do here at Wagercom.com but there are 3 very important reasons for this:
1. The Mavericks really need a win. Mark Cuban called them out the other day http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/03/mark-cuban-players-that-dont-give-effort.html telling them that if they don’t give effort, they will be shipped out (and to be honest, if not giving effort would get me shipped out of Dallas, then I would start taking naps at midcourt).
2. Washington sucks
3. See point 2.
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