NBA Handicapping Articles

Free NBA Picks: Thursday, March 30, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/29/2017

One of the most unlikely NBA winning streaks in recent history is on the line Thursday night, and I'll just get to the point and say I believe that it ends. The Chicago Bulls are featured on one of the TNT telecasts, and they have won 18 straight home TNT Thursday games dating to the end of the 2012-13 regular season. This is crazy unlikely because the Bulls usually are playing some of the NBA's best teams in these games - the schedule is set up that way for the most attention. This year, the Bulls are 2-0 vs. the Boston Celtics at home on TNT Thursdays and 1-0 vs. San Antonio and Golden State (handing the Warriors their second straight regular-season loss for the first time since April 2015, a league-record streak of 146 games).

Free NBA Picks: Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/28/2017

Last spring, the NBA world was denied a chance to see two of the best regular-season teams in NBA history, the 73-win Golden State Warriors and 67-victory San Antonio Spurs, do battle in the postseason. The Oklahoma City Thunder upset the Spurs in the conference semifinals. Will Wednesday night be the last time the Dubs and Spurs play in 2017? I sure hope not, because I believe San Antonio is the only Western Conference club that can give a fully healthy Golden State side problems. Those two are going to finish 1-2 in the West standings in whichever order so they could only play again in the West Finals.

Free NBA Picks: Tuesday, March 28, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/27/2017

It was an interesting weekend if you are a Kentucky basketball fan. On Sunday, the Cats lost an instant classic to North Carolina in the Elite Eight, and Coach John Calipari surely will be saying goodbye to his two best players in freshmen Malik Monk and De'Aaron Fox as they will head to the draft. On Friday in Boston, former Kentucky player Devin Booker had the individual game of the NBA season by scoring 70 points (most by any Kentucky player ever) in a 130-120 loss.

Free NBA Picks: Saturday, March 25, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/24/2017

There is no ABC Saturday showcase this week opposite the first night of the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. Probably just as well for ABC the way it has been embarrassed the past two Saturdays with terrible games due to stars sitting. The most interesting game of the NBA weekend is Sunday when Oklahoma City visits Houston at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. The storyline there is the MVP battle between Russell Westbrook and James Harden. In any other year, one of those guys would be a runaway favorite with the amazing statistical seasons they are having. Currently at BetOnline, Harden is a -155 favorite with Westbrook at +110.

NBA Handicapping: Indiana Pacers Invisible but Playoff Bound
by Trevor Whenham - 3/24/2017

There are a lot of invisible teams in the NBA - teams that go about their business without drawing a whole lot of interest or attention. They are just there - the vanilla ice cream of the league. From where I sit the Indiana Pacers are definitely one of those teams. I'm sitting in a coffee shop writing this right now. I bet that if I asked the 20 people here what the NBA team in Indianapolis is called, not half would know the answer. And even among those that call themselves basketball fans to some degree I bet not more than one would be able to name their current number of wins within, say, five. Granted, I don't live in a basketball heartland, but you get my point.

Free NBA Picks: Friday, March 24, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/23/2017

OK, now we see what size cajones that Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue and GM David Griffin have. Of course teams resting stars has been a hot topic around the NBA all week after Lue sat LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love last Saturday night in a national TV game. The NBA league office e-mailed its unhappiness to Griffin, who basically told the NBA to MYOB, and early this week Commissioner Adam Silver sent a memo to all 30 team owners saying that resting key players has become a major issue and will be addressed at the next meeting.

NBA Handicapping: What to Make of Odd Warriors Season Thus Far
by Trevor Whenham - 3/23/2017

The Golden State Warriors have won five in a row - though they haven't exactly played elite squads over that stretch, so it really doesn't prove much. The bigger concern, or at least the bigger cause for interest, is that they had lost five of seven before that. Teams go through funks, but it had been a couple of years since we had seen even a glimpse of regular-season mortality from this Golden State squad. It was easy to assume that they were above that.

Free NBA Picks: Thursday, March 23, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/22/2017

With the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 tipping off opposite the NBA action on Thursday, you are going to be seeing a lot of stars playing potentially their final games in college basketball as the waves of draft declarations will begin when their teams lose. For example, Oklahoma State star sophomore guard Jawun Evans announced his decision on Tuesday. Both Kansas and Arizona play Thursday night - I think they both win, though -- and it's presumed their star freshmen, Josh Jackson and Lauri Markkanen, respectively, will be playing for money next year. Oregon is a slight underdog to Michigan on Thursday in the Midwest, and it could be the final game for Ducks star Dillon Brooks, the Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Free NBA Picks: Wednesday, March 22, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/21/2017

If before this season you projected that the Philadelphia 76ers would be the best against the spread team in the NBA, kudos to you because I surely didn't. I also expected the Sixers to start losing more games ATS once they ruled out Rookie of the Year candidate Joel Embiid for the season. Yet there the team is atop the ATS standings, and it has covered an NBA-high seven straight games entering Wednesday. The 76ers continue to play hard for Coach Brett Brown, although they have the fifth-worst record in the NBA.

Free NBA Picks: Tuesday, March 21, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/20/2017

For the second week in a row, the ABC Saturday night showcase game was ruined by a team resting its star players. This time it was Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue sitting LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love at the Clippers (who predictably won easily). Irving supposedly was dealing with a minor injury and Love just returned from a long absence due to a knee problem, but LeBron was fine. Cavs GM David Griffin got a call from the league office shortly after the team announced its decision Saturday. On the telecast, ABC's Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy called the decision "an absolute joke" and "a prosecutable offense." They are also former head coaches, and I'm sure rested a guy or two who could have played back in their day.

NBA Betting Trends: Totals Report for Hot Over and Under Teams
by Aaron Smith - 3/20/2017

The Golden State Warriors let the San Antonio Spurs back in the race for the top spot in the Western Conference, but the Spurs have dropped two of their last three games to fall behind by two games once again. In the Eastern Conference, the first seed (Cleveland) and the fourth seed (Toronto) are only 5.5 games apart. Also, only 1.5 games separate the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff standings (Pacers) from the No. 9 spot (Heat). There's plenty left to be decided.

Free NBA Picks: Saturday, March 18, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/17/2017

The Dwyane Wade Experiment has been a failure with the Chicago Bulls, and it could be over for good. No one really understood what the Bulls were doing this past offseason when they signed Rajon Rondo and Wade when they were supposed to rebuilding around Jimmy Butler. Wade at least made some sense from a marketing perspective as the future Hall of Famer was returning to his hometown and still was a good player. Wade only left the Heat, however, because he was low-balled in contract negotiations. Wade's season is over with a sprain and small fracture in his right elbow. He averaged 18.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists but was forced to sit out a handful of games (most in the second of a back-to-back).

Free NBA Picks: Friday, March 17, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/16/2017

No NBA head coach has been fired this season, and I doubt one is at this point, although there will be openings after the regular season. Will we see a top college coach head to the NBA? There has been very mixed success with the pros dipping into the college ranks. Billy Donovan has been good with Oklahoma City. John Calipari flopped years ago with the Nets, but you continue to hear his name linked to the New Orleans Pelicans - and that job will be open assuming the Pels miss the playoffs - because two of Coach Cal's former UK stars, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, are on the team.

Free NBA Picks: Thursday, March 16, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/15/2017

I don't know about you, but I generally avoid pregame, halftime or post-game TV shows when it comes to sports programming. Back in the old days they were useful for injury updates or weather, etc. Thanks to the Internet, I can find out all I want myself. That said, TNT's Thursday night NBA telecasts are must-see TV during halftime and after games because of their great studio team of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith - not so much Shaq.

Free NBA Picks: Wednesday, March 15, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/14/2017

Has there ever been a season where the top NBA contenders have been dealing with such serious health issues? You have Kevin Love (and to a lesser extent Andrew Bogut) with the Cavaliers, Kevin Durant with the Warriors and now LaMarcus Aldridge with the Spurs. He's out indefinitely with a "minor heart arrhythmia." Most times when an NBA player is ruled out indefinitely, the team has a pretty good idea when that player will return. This obviously isn't a broken bone or pulled muscle for which doctors can forecast a recovery time. The Spurs will not win the West without Aldridge, but if history is any indication he should be back well before the playoffs.

Free NBA Picks: Tuesday, March 14, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/13/2017

In the spirit of the NCAA Tournament bracket being released on Sunday, the school with the most current players in the NBA probably won't surprise you: Kentucky. Just think how good a Kentucky-only team would be. A backcourt of John Wall and Eric Bledsoe (or Devin Booker) and a frontcourt of Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns and DeMarcus Cousins.

Free NBA Picks: Saturday, March 11, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/10/2017

Sometimes the leads to these daily stories simply write themselves, and that's the case for Saturday's NBA schedule - frankly, the last Saturday some sports bettors might care much about the NBA until after the NCAA Tournament's Final Four. I believe the most important game the rest of the 2016-17 regular season is Golden State at San Antonio on Saturday night -- if the Spurs win.

NBA Handicapping: Utah Jazz Quietly Getting Job Done
by Trevor Whenham - 3/10/2017

There are teams in the NBA that are good and get a lot of the attention - almost all of it, really. And there are teams that are so bad, and so overrun with drama, that they get more than they deserve - like the Lakers and the Knicks. Somewhere between those two extremes operate teams like the Utah Jazz.

Free NBA Picks: Friday, March 10, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/9/2017

All the talking head wonks on Wednesday were discussing whether the Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki is a Top-10 player all-time after becoming the sixth in NBA history (seventh if you count Dr. J's ABA points) to reach 30,000 career points. Dirk, Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant are the only players to score at least 30,000 points for one team. If Nowitzki plays each of Dallas' remaining 19 games and continues to average 13.9 PPG this season, he would finish with roughly 30,269 points.

Free NBA Picks: Thursday, March 9, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 3/8/2017

I don't want to say that the broken leg suffered by Cavs center Andrew Bogut just 58 seconds into his Cleveland debut earlier this week is going to shape who wins the NBA Finals, but that will hurt LeBron James & Co. If there's one thing that team is missing, it's rim protection. Tristan Thompson is OK, but Kevin Love plays out on the perimeter. The Cavs are thin with bigs behind them, and of course Love is already hurt. Bogut remains a good defender, passer and rebounder.