NBA - FEB 24

Alright, so everyone in the room who went 3-0 on their picks last night, raise your hand. Mmmhmm, thats what I thought. Yes, yes, dont want to toot my own horn, but I did pretty well for meself last night. Hopefully this trend of winners doesnt lose momentum anytime soon. Here are the picks:

LA Lakers vs Dallas -1 ---> Take the Mavs at home with the win

Memphis -1 vs Washington ---> Take the Grizz on the Road

Detroit vs LA Clippers -3.5 ---> Take the Clips

I like Dallas to win at home against the Lakers. Its a big game for both teams considering they are among the elite of the Western conference and both want to use this game as a gauge to determine where they stand in the grand scheme of things. Dallas has looked good of late, especially after the additions of former All-Stars in Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood. LA are coming off a last second win against the Grizzlies last night. In the end, I like the Mavs to win with the fresher legs, playing motivated basketball in front of a home crowd.

In the Memphis/Washington game, I like the Grizz to squeak by with a win on the road. The Grizzlies come off a crushing home loss against the Lakers and so they may be a little wary coming into tonights game. However, there are two factors in leading me to pick the Grizz over the Wiz. For one, the Grizzlies just have better overall talent on their roster. For another, the Wiz will be without one of their stars as former All-Star and recent addition to the team, Josh Howard, will be out for the remainder of the year with a torn ACL knee ligament. In the end, I expect the Grizz to come out sluggish in the 1st quarter/1st half, but they'll eventually work the kinks out to win the game on the road.

Lastly, I like the Clips to win at home against the Pistons. Simple reason for me in taking the Clips - Detroit's not a good road team (7-19). On the other hand, the Clippers play considerably well at home (16-12) and have some good matchups that they can exploit all night, namely Chris Kamen on the inside. So, expect the Clips to win by 6 -10 points, covering the 3.5 point spread easily.

NBA Record against the spread in 2009-10 --> 43-29