NBA Handicapping Articles

Free NBA Picks: Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/27/2017

The NFL has parity -- just look at the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. Major League Baseball has it too as your last two champions are the Royals and Cubs. The NBA doesn't really have parity as the best teams just about always win the championship. I'm not here to tell you the Warriors or Cavaliers won't win it all this June. But we are at the time of year where the top teams are slogging through the season and waiting for the All-Star break -- Cleveland is a prime example.

Free NBA Picks: Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/26/2017

If you are like me, you are rather tired of the Dunk Contest on All-Star Weekend but also can't not watch just in case something spectacular happens. Last year something did as the Magic's Aaron Gordon and Timberwolves' Zach LaVine staged an epic duel won by LaVine -- although most believe Gordon should have won. This year's Dunk Contest field hasn't been finalized yet, but Gordon will return. That's great news. The bad is that LaVine is not likely to pursue a threepeat. And another fabulous in-game dunker, Larry Nance Jr., the son of former Dunk Contest champion Larry Nance, also is passing.

Free NBA Betting Picks: Season-Long Utah Jazz Analysis and Expert Predictions
by Chris Vasile - 1/26/2017

It's just about the end of January, and several teams are starting to feel the effects and rigours of an NBA season. The main culprits are fatigue and injuries. Every team in the NBA is up against it, and depth is now just as important as the five guys that start every night. Look at the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors for example.

Free NBA Picks: Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/25/2017

If we are being totally honest, LeBron James returned to the Cavaliers not solely because he wanted to bring a championship to the city of Cleveland. Sure, that was a part of it, but James also essentially wanted to run the team and get what he wanted. Especially when it came to player acquisitions. And while David Griffin might have the title of GM of the Cavaliers, we all know who's in charge.

Free NBA Picks: Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/24/2017

The Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers weren't the only American sports teams to lay a prodigious egg on Sunday. The Los Angeles Lakers went to Dallas and were spanked 122-73, the largest margin of defeat ever for that historic franchise. Ironically, it came 11 years to the day of one of the great regular-season moments in Lakers history, when Kobe Bryant scored 81 points, the second-most in any game, against the Toronto Raptors. Coach Luke Walton called Sunday an embarrassment, and I'm sure the team had some pretty intense practices on Monday and Tuesday. I often like to bet on teams coming off such a shellacking because they tend to bounce back and show some pride, but the Lakers have been a terrible wager on the road this season like they are Wednesday.

Free NBA Picks: Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/23/2017

Some much-needed good news for the Los Angeles Clippers is imminent as Blake Griffin is expected to return from his knee injury. It's most likely he will do so Tuesday in Philadelphia. Griffin underwent an arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies from his right knee on Dec. 20. Griffin worked out Friday with Brice Johnson and Alan Anderson and reported no problems. The Clippers were 9-8 without him entering Monday's trip to Atlanta -- Griffin wasn't playing there as I'm sure the team didn't want him out there for both ends of a back-to-back -- and really looked bad in losses to Minnesota and Denver last week once they lost Chris Paul for 6-8 weeks following thumb surgery.

NBA Betting Trends: Totals Report for Hot Over and Under Teams
by Aaron Smith - 1/20/2017

Most teams are a little more than halfway through the regular season. The 76ers have played only 40 of their 82 games thus far, but the Lakers have already played 46 contests. The next month before the NBA All-Star Game will be very telling. I think we'll know a lot more about which teams are contenders for a playoff spot by then. It is already clear who the four or five teams are that have a real chance at winning the NBA Championship, but who will get in the playoffs is a different story.

Free NBA Picks: Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/20/2017

Sacramento Kings ownership was all in on this season with the team playing in its new publicly-funded arena. By all in, I obviously don't mean winning an NBA title but simply making the playoffs, which the terribly-run Kings haven't done since 2006. I'm not sure what's so exciting about getting a No. 8 seed and then getting swept in the first round by Golden State, but I'm also not in marketing.

Free NBA Betting Picks: Season-Long Utah Jazz Analysis and Expert Predictions
by Chris Vasile - 1/20/2017

The NBA has just passed the midway point in the regular season, and there is very little surprise in the way the standings shake down. The elite teams lead their respective conferences, while the scrappy teams like Chicago, Charlotte, Detroit, Denver and Portland scrap it out for the final few seeds and that coveted playoff berth. The way the season started off for Utah, you could argue that they would be fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot, but with just under half the season left, the Jazz are 10 games up on eighth place and have their sights set on a top-three seed.

Free NBA Picks: Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/19/2017

Have we seen the last of the Los Angeles Clippers as Western Conference contenders? As currently constructed, I believe we have. I really would have liked to have seen what this team could do in the playoffs with everyone healthy at once, but it never seemed to work out that way. The latest injury to hit the team was All-Star point guard Chris Paul, in the midst of one of his best seasons, undergoing thumb surgery on Wednesday following a Monday injury.

Free NBA Picks: Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/18/2017

Should we start including Boston's Isaiah Thomas in the MVP conversation with Russell Westbrook and James Harden? Thomas, who was taken last (No. 60 overall) in the 2011 draft by Sacramento, is carrying the Celtics as one of the league's Top 4 scorers. He has been even better in the fourth quarter, as entering Wednesday Thomas was averaging 10.1 points in the fourth quarter this season. The NBA has only been tracking fourth-quarter points for 20 years, and the record for a season is 9.5 by the Lakers' Kobe Bryant in 2006.

NBA Betting Advice and Handicapping: Studs and Duds against the Point Spread
by Trevor Whenham - 1/17/2017

Give or take, we are at the halfway point of the NBA season. That means that it's an excellent time to check in on where we are at from a betting perspective so far. Which teams have been the best at covering spreads? Which ones have struggled? And, most importantly, are the teams likely to continue on the path they have been on? Here are a look at the betting studs and duds of the first half of this season:

Free NBA Picks: Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/17/2017

"The boss wants to see you." That's generally not a sentence you want to hear, no matter your profession. And when you hear of an owner of a sports team giving his head coach a vote of confidence, that's not usually going to end well for said coach. However, Pistons coach/president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy did get the dreaded vote of confidence from team owner Tom Gores recently.

NBA Handicapping: Celtics Making a Move to Top of Eastern Conference
by Trevor Whenham - 1/17/2017

Entering the season, the Eastern Conference of the NBA sure felt like a three-team affair, with Toronto and Boston trying to find a way to chip away at the immovable force that is Cleveland. Well, it took awhile for the Celtics to find their way, but at the halfway point of the season that is exactly where we sit. The Cavs are in charge, but their Monday night massacre at the hands of the Warriors gave other teams hope. Toronto has the most efficient offense in the league, and the Celtics are red hot. It is precisely the race we were hoping for, and it promises to be fun down the stretch.

NBA Betting Advice: What to Make of Philadelphia 76ers Recent Surge
by Trevor Whenham - 1/17/2017

The Philadelphia 76ers have long been a joke. And not a particularly funny one. They still are a long way from good - at 13-26 there are only two teams worse than them in the Eastern Conference, and the +100,000 championship futures odds price at BetOnline is lower than only the Nets. But they have won six of their last eight, are showing confidence for the first time in a long time, and are playing like, well, an NBA team.

Free NBA Picks: Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/16/2017

I have to be honest in that I really enjoy watching the New York teams struggle, although it doesn't affect my handicapping judgment. Simply don't like the city or most people from there, at least those who act like NYC is the center of the universe and they are better than everyone else. Thus the fact that the Nets are the worst team in the NBA and on a 10-game losing streak and the Knicks are imploding, with Carmelo Anthony whining that Phil Jackson doesn't perhaps want him around any longer, both make me giddy.

Expert NBA Handicapping: Deciphering the Mess that is the New York Knicks
by Trevor Whenham - 1/16/2017

As a coach Phil Jackson may be the best ever - and he has 11 championships earned as a coach with two teams to prove it. As a president, though, he is on track to be one of the worst of all time. His positive achievements in New York so far since taking over in March of 2014 pretty much consist of drafting Kristaps Porzingis. Most everything else has turned into piles of garbage of various sizes - from coaching maneuvering to personnel decisions from trades to contracts to draft picks. Jackson just isn't very good at this job, and he wouldn't still have this job if he wasn't a legend.

Free NBA Picks: Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/13/2017

I don't generally write a Monday Opening Line Report story here at Doc's because, hey, we all need one day off. That said, arguably the second-most anticipated game remaining in the regular season -- I would argue No. 1 is Golden State at Oklahoma City on Feb. 11 in Kevin Durant's first game back in OKC -- is Monday night when Cleveland visits Golden State.

NBA Handicapping: Utah Jazz Succeeding on Court but Not at Betting Window
by Trevor Whenham - 1/12/2017

The Western Conference of the NBA has had no shortage of disappointing potential contenders this year - Minnesota, Denver, Dallas, and New Orleans are all walking, jumping train wrecks who entered with at least some version of playoff aspirations.

Free NBA Picks: Friday, Jan. 13, 2017, Opening Line Report and Handicapping
by Alan Matthews - 1/12/2017

I guess we can put those rumors of the Sacramento Kings trading franchise player DeMarcus Cousins to bed. Cousins is signed through next season, and if he told the Kings he was leaving then, they probably would have no recourse but to trade Cousins. However, Cousins is eligible to sign an extension this summer, and the Kings are going to give him the max offer possible, a nice five-year, $207 million extension (dollars could change slightly depending on where the official cap number lands).