“The Picker” has been on duty for five days. He hit his only pick yesterday as the Thunder covered a 13-point spread against the Raptors. His record improved to 5-3-1. Frankly, I am unimpressed. “The Picker” is a guy I chat with often on Twitter who likes to pick NBA games against the spread. He has been on a tremendous run the past couple months, and I dared him to publish his picks prior to the games for a couple weeks to put his talents to
We could drone on and on in today’s roundup about what a huge victory it was yesterday for both Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks, being that this Web site is based out of the Big Apple. But we shall spare you. You know why the Knicks won Sunday in overtime? Three words: Derrick Rose choked. By my count, Rose is now 0-for-4 on game-deciding free throws in the final minute of the fourth quarter of Sunday afternoon ABC games, having gagged similarly
With 11 games left in the regular season, the Philadelphia 76ers can slice their Atlantic Division deficit in half on Sunday with a win over the division-leading Celtics in Boston. It could come down to a battle of the benches. Saturday, Ray Allen came off the bench for just the sixth time in his career and hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia’s leading scorer, Lou Williams (15.3 ppg), comes off the bench every game; and Saturday the Sixers were paced by
Yesterday, the Picker was curious about the two mortal locks I wrote about in the morning, but he agreed with only one of them — which hit when Orlando not only covered at Philadelphia, but won outright. (My other was the Hawks -8.5). After a poor showing Friday night (0-2), “The Picker” had another tough night Saturday as he went 1-1 to drop his four-day record to 4-3-1. He liked the Nuggets, who lost big at Golden State, and he also liked
We are now being rewarded for what we all endured during the lockout. There are less than three weeks left in the regular season, both conferences have compelling races at both the top and the bottom, and no team is a sure thing in the playoffs (unless somebody gets to play Philadelphia). Yes, we are down on the Sixers, whose swoon has put them in jeopardy of missing the playoffs after they led the Atlantic Division for 80 percent of the season. We
That’s what we should be expecting from Ray Allen as the sixth man. Five 3-pointers, four steals and 19 points in 33 minutes. Avery Bradley (4 PTS in 29 minutes) is starting mostly for defensive purposes, and Paul Pierce (24) is the main scoring option. Kevin Garnett (15 PTS, 7 REB) got a lot of support from Greg Stiemsma (10 PTS, 9 REB, 5 BLK) up front. Many of the Pacers played just as well as they had in upsetting
When the shortened season started and the Philadelphia 76ers came out blazing with a 20-9 record to lead the Atlantic Division, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind about the new direction Doug Collins and the team was headed. They had experienced a tough playoff run against the Miami Heat the previous season, and had looked to grow from the experience. It was, however, noted that they also had one of the easiest schedules to start the season. Looking back, they played the
This column was originally going to be a convincing piece as to why Maurice Cheeks (full disclosure: my favorite player of all time) deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Then Stan Van Gundy decided enough was enough and exposed for all of us Dwight Howard’s true character – a selfish brat whose childish demands and indecision make him utterly impossible. When this mess in the Magic Kingdom shakes out sometime in May, Van Gundy will be unemployed, because that’s what