NBA Basketball

Free NBA Picks February 3 2010 (02/03)

General — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:36:06 +0000

Only one Free NBA Betting Pick tonight, will keep it simple.

Oklahoma City Thunder -1 vs New Orleans Hornets

OKC hasn’t beaten the Hornets in a while, which is probably why the line is so low, but with Durant playing the way he is, and Chris Paul out, this shouldn’t be close. Bet Large.

Free NBA Betting Picks (02/02) February 2 2010

General — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:54:57 +0000

Welcome to another edition of free NBA Picks on NBA Basketball. So far this season we have 67% success ratio on NBA handicaps, but that percentage will be put to the test today with 4 fresh NBA picks.

February 2 (02/02) Free NBA Pick #1:

Memphis Grizzlies +10.5 vs Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers just had a record first quarter against the Clippers were they completely destroyed the Los Angeles Clippers and set a few franchise records. On the other hand, the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Los Angeles Lakers. The line is set at +10.5 which suggests that this should be a blowout, but based on the way these two teams played last time, it should be a tight encounter. The Grizzlies defeated the Cavaliers in their last encounter and are well matched up against the Cavaliers with Gay able to somewhat handle LeBron and Gasol and Randolph able to go head to head with Cleveland’s frontline. Cleveland will get the victory, but it will be a single digit victory.

February 2 (02/02) Free NBA Betting Pick #2:

Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets -6

The Warriors are still playing short handed and have never been a good road team. The Rockets on the other hand are deadly at home, and will particularly enjoy finally playing against a sub .500 team. The Rockets should have no problem putting the Warriors away early on, and maintaining a hefty lead throughout thanks to their constant hustle mentality.

February 2 (02/02) NBA Free Picks #3:

Detroit Pistons -2.5 vs New Jersey Nets

The line on this doesn’t matter much because the Detroit Pistons should blow out the New Jersey Nets. The Pistons, despite what their record indicates, are a talented basketball team full of proven players. They won’t let the Nets make a game out of this and hit rock bottom.

Free Basketball NBA Bet February 2 2010 (02/02) #4:

Toronto Raptors +1 vs Indiana Pacers

Even without Turkoglu, the Raptors easily put the Pacers away yesterday and they should do the same tonight in a home to home back-to-back match between the two Eastern Conference sides. The Pacers still have no answer for Bosh and won’t be able to shoot themselves out of a blowout this time like the last meeting in Indiana.

That wraps up the February 2 2010 (02/02) free NBA Basketball bets. Good luck to all.

NBA January 31 2010 Game Recaps

General — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:40:08 +0000

Here is a recap of NBA games from 01/31 2010:

Denver Nuggets vs San Antonio Spurs

The Denver Nuggets comfortably defeated the Spurs on their home floor 103-89 despite playing without their All-Star Carmelo Anthony. San Antonio were playing without Tony Parker and struggled to contain Chauncey Billups. The game was closer than the indicated score with the Nuggets pulling away towards the end.

LA Lakers vs Boston Celtics

In a rematch of the 2008 NBA Finals, both the Lakers and Celtics failed to play up to their full capacity. The Lakers got off to a strong start and possessed a double digit lead. In the second quarter, Rajon Rondo stepped up and turned the game around taking a 5 point lead into the locker room at half time. The game came down to the final minute that saw it’s share of controversial calls. The Lakers deserved to get the ball during one possession when Perkins grabbed an offensive rebound that went off a camera at the back of the rim. Then with 30 seconds left in the game Paul Pierce drove to the basket and pushed off Ron Artest, which earned the Lakers the ball. Kobe Bryant made a tough shot over Ray Allen, and Allen couldn’t respond on the other hand with an open 3 point attempt as the buzzer sounded. LA 90 Boston 89.

LA Clippers vs Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers destroyed the LA Clippers 114-89 despite a relatively quiet game from LeBron James and a strong showing from Baron Davis.

Orlando Magic vs Detroit Pistons

The Orlando Magic defeated the Detroit Pistons 91-86 which saw the game go down to the final possessions. Ben Gordon had a chance to tie the game with a 3 pointer, but never managed to get the shot off.

Other scores:

Philadelphia 83 vs 79 New Jersey Nets

Indiana Pacers 102 vs 117 Toronto Raptors

Phoenix Suns 115 vs 111 Houston Rockets

New York Knicks 91 vs 112 Minnesota Timberwolves

Golden State Warriors 104 vs 112 Oklahoma City Thunder

Free NBA Picks (01/30): January 30 2010

General — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:48:53 +0000

Free NBA Picks: January 30 2010 (30/01/2010)

After a successful pick on the January 28th, it’s time to bet on some great games available on January 30th 2010. Let’s get on with it.

First match to bet on is between the New York Knicks vs Washingon Wizards taking place at 8pm on January 30 2010. The Knicks played quite well in their loss against the tough Raptors and after a day off of practice, they are headed to Washington. The weather is terrible so don’t expect this to be a big crowd. Washington on the other hand have just barely beat the measly New Jersey Nets last night. The Knicks should take this one against a demoralized Washington Wizards side.

The other games of the night are Charlotte Bobcats vs Sacramento Kings at 10PM ET on January 30 2010. Both of these teams are coming off back to back games, with Charlotte having just beat the Warriors and the Kings losing out to the Jazz without Boozer or Williams. The Charlotte Bobcats should come away with a victory here as they did several weeks ago.

Free NBA Betting Pick for January 30 2010 (01/30/2010):

Here are again, the Free NBA picks of the night for January 30 2010 (01/30/2010):

New York Knicks -1 vs Washington Wizards

Charlotte Bobcats -1 vs Sacramento Kings

Free NBA Picks: January 28 2010 (28/01/2010)

General — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:13:26 +0000

Free NBA Picks: January 28 2010 (28/01/2010)

Today’s NBA pick of the day is in the match between the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks. The Toronto Raptors are coming off an impressive victory of the Los Angeles Lakers and look to hand the New York Knicks another loss after an encounter between the two teams just several days ago.

The New York Knicks on the other hand recently had a 50 point loss at home to the Dallas Mavericks. It is likely they will bounce back and play much better, but will it be good enough to defeat the Raptors?

Free NBA Betting Pick for January 28 2010 (28/01/2010):

The Raptors are a way better team than the Knicks and with their recent victory against the Lakers they should have more confidence to take care of a lesser team like the Knicks. At +3 handicap, the Toronto Raptors are a strong lock to take this game.

Free NBA pick of the night for January 28 2010 (28/01/2010):

Toronto Raptors +3 vs New York Knicks

Sports Media’s Latest Victim: Gilbert Arenas

Oytun — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:06:02 +0000

The sports media has seen a dramatic evolution over the last several decades – to a point where today, it is out of control and Gilbert Arenas has become the latest tragic casualty.

There was a time when obscene events in the sporting world would see brief mention in a local paper, and disappear from memory soon thereafter – but that is now in the distant past. The 80’s was the start of the movement towards the increased importance of sports media in pop culture. Legendary players like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were defining what it meant to be a superstar and were gracing covers of magazines from Sports Illustrated to Time Magazine. The 90’s were all about Michal Jordan, and he single-handedly transformed the industry from being a sport to a form of entertainment. During this time, ESPN became a brand deeply imbedded within the DNA of sports with its highlights and opinions often becoming the apparent judge of success. The new millennium brought with it wide use of the internet, and thousands of Blogs were born everyday dissecting every small little topic humanly thinkable.

This rapid development of the sporting world and the way it has been covered has spiraled out of control – with plenty of reasons to explain how we have come where we are. Take the state of the media today: unprecedented competition with everyone having relatively equal access to finding and sharing information, the slow death of traditional media and its gasping effort to survive, and a fast drop in ethical standards. This landscape has resulted in everyone in the business blowing stories out of proportion and resorting to anything from lies to sensationalism, non factual rumors to biased opinions – in hopes of securing a piece of the pie.

If you’ve read this far down and are not sure what is wrong with the media today, perhaps a short recount of some recent stories might shed better light on the issue.

For example, Michael Vick went to jail and had his whole life destroyed because…he engaged in dog fighting. This isn’t exactly the right place to discuss the degree of severity of dog fighting – but I would personally place fighting (physically) with your wife on a higher level of evil. If you put together the suspensions of all these players with assault and battery histories (and believe me, there’s plenty), it wouldn’t come close to adding up to the losses both financially and emotionally that Vick has had to endure for his distasteful hobby.

Then you have Tiger Woods – his story probably received more media coverage than anything since 9/11. At the end of the day he was cheating on his wife – but last time I checked, the USA is not part of Saudi Arabia where such an act can be considered a crime worthy of being stoned. The amount of destruction the sheer amount of press coverage brought onto this previously angel of a human being resulted in an insurmountable and irrecoverable situation with his wife and family. The lost sponsorships were deserved, but complete loss of privacy and sensitivity in these private matters at times of crisis was a casualty of today’s media.

And this bring us to Gilbert Arenas – everything that could potentially have been written about him has been written. All his words have been published, his tweets followed, his list of pranks revealed, his interviews broadcasted, his thoughts and dreams shared, and everything you could ever want to know has been shoved down our throat by the media up to this point like it’s humanity’s shared child and we all need to know more about him than we know about our own family members. The same people who laughed at his jokes and wrote about how great he was now are using his pranks against him in explaining how he was a psycho megalomaniac bully.It wasn’t too long ago, the NBA even employed this guy themselves on their official website to write about all the crazy things going on in his mind – but following the gun incident Agent Zero, much like a spy who has gone offstray, got terminated.

What bothers me most is the breaking point came not as a result of his breaking the law but during a pre game huddle: the few seconds before a game where the leader of a team makes a final attempt to bond with his comrades before they go off to battle, like Spartacus in ancient times, like a King before his disciples, like a coach during a huddle. These speeches can be offensive, vulgar, downright offensive at times… but at the end of the day it’s none of our business what a core of individuals need to do to bond with each other. If you’re really looking for a punishment to teach a a lesson, you need to do it at the right time, right place, and right manner – and David Stern along with the Wizards organization dropped the ball on this one. If you’re going to completely break ties with someone, throw him off to the media wolves, do it correctly (that means doing something about Javaris Crittenton too).

Don’t get me wrong, what Gilbert Arenas did was wrong of course, and he needs to be punished. But his punishment should not be graver than the likes of Stephen Jackson, Laterell Sprewell, Delonte Jones, and Ron Artest. At the end of the day, guns don’t kill people, people kill people, and Gilbert Arenas is not a killer. The United States’ recent gun problem, and the mentality of its people towards highly paid celebrities and investment bankers following the financial crisis made this an easy home run for the media to escalate the situation to its current heights. Now Arenas is facing 5 years in prison, a loss of 80 million dollars, completely abandonment from his long time sponsors and NBA team, and a life where tags like ‘thug’, ‘bully, ‘criminal’, ‘maniac’ will follow him and haunt him for the rest of his life. Does he really deserve this?

Arenas as a kid had a rough upbringing, being raised by his father in one of the most dangerous communities in the United States. He had to battle adversity, failure, being a complete nobody. He made himself a somebody, and there are countless stories of Arenas having a generous and kind soul and helping others. A few years ago, people in Washington would scoff at the idea of trading Gilbert Arenas for Kobe Bryant but today, the word on the street (hint: the media tells us) is that the Wizards have the worst contract in the league.

In fact there is some truth to that, but it is Arenas who has the worst contract in the league. You bring revolution to an age old industry by popularizing the idea of celebrity blogging, you take a battered team to their first playoff series win in years, you donate your time and money to the community, you give your heart and soul and spend 2 years trying to get back to form to help your team and in the snap of a second, a slip-up in judgment, you find yourself the biggest enemy in the nation after Osama bin Laden, and you’re threatened to have your livelihood taken away from you forever.

I urge those in the media to reconsider their approach and demeanor in this story. At times I have also been mad and frustrated with the behavior of Gilbert Arenas – but it is time for the media to step in and do the opposite of what it is normally trained and shaped to do: it must make as little of this story as possible. The media, even if it is against all its interests, needs to kill this story, focus on the positives, and welcome him back to his rightful place in the NBA once he has served the punishment sentenced to him by the law.

Stephon Marbury Going to China

General — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:22:10 +0000

Stephon Marbury has become somewhat of a character in recent years with his outlandish statements, silly quarrels, atrocious play, and crazy character. People were disappointed to learn earlier this year that the 32 year old free agent wasn’t returning to the NBA. However, news has broken out that instead Marbury will play for the Shanxi Zongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association. The Zongyu are the same team that signed Bonzi Wells sometime ago and are hoping that Marbury will provide the much needed spark to get their season back in order being 3rd from the bottom, and attendance at a all time low.

The Chinese Basketball Association did recently introduce a salary cap however, that limits the number of foreign players per team to two, and their salaries to very humble figures. Having said that, Marbury is not in this for basketball glory or for a big salary. Stephon Marbury, also nicknamed Starbury, is along with Ben Wallace promoting his Starbury brand which produces ultra cheap shoes that see a retail price of 15$.

Stephon the Entrepreneur is no slouch either – he even stood toe to toe with LeBron James recently when the King himself mocked fun at Marbury’s cheap line of basketball shoes saying that he and Nike would never have a shoe that cheap, due to ‘having higher standards’. Stephon Marbury responded by sayings: “I rather own, than be owned”.

So it will be interesting to see how Stephon the basketball player and Stephon the businessman cope in the Middle Kingdom. This makes him the most famous foreign player to have ever played in the CBA – and many will be keeping a close eye on him and how he performs on and off the court. We hope all goes well for Stephon Marbury in China.

Blake Griffin out for the Rest of the Season

General — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:13:27 +0000

Blake Griffin, the number 1 pick in the 2009 draft suffered an injury during the 2009 preseason and was expected to be out until December. However, it was recently announced that he will miss the remainder of the season as well. This will mean that he will not have played any minutes in the NBA this season, qualifying him to be a rookie again next season.

Blake Griffin injury

One of the major talking points for this Blake Griffin injury is whether it was a Clippers curse or a #1 draft pick curse. We know already that the Clippers have had a lot of bad luck in the past with their high draft picks. Their was Shaun Livingston who was a highly coveted guard with great expectations, but ever since being drafted by the LA Clippers, he has not managed to stay healthy. Also you will remember, the 1996 #1 pick of the Clippers: Michael Olowakandi. He was a huge disappointment that never even got close to the expectations set by him from the Clippers organization.

Then at the same time you have the newly developing #1 pick curse. Greg Oden was selected number 1 overall in the 2007 draft, but has troubled staying healthy. He has just shutdown for the season as well, and it begs the question: why is it that number 1 picks seem to suffer so much. Is it the pressure? Is it the fact that usual #1 picks are usually big men who are agile (a special combination).

It’s uncertain the exact cause of Blake Griffin’s injury, but it would be wise to take his time for a comeback so as to not have a repeat injury like Greg Oden did.

Gilbert Arenas: Prison or Jail Next?

General — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:15:13 +0000

Washington Wizards all-star guard Gilbert Arenas pleaded guilty on Friday to carrying a gun without a license in the District of Columbia, a felony conviction that could see him face jail time. The prosecutors in the case have agreed not to seek a sentence longer than the lower end of sentencing guidelines, which calls for six months to two years of prison time. It is possible that he could be on probation, serve community service, or serve prison time of up to 5 years under Washington’s laws.

gilbert arenas jail

To make matters worse for Arenas, he hasn’t received a lot of support from those that at one point in his career were deeply relying on him. The Wizards organization has let it be known that they were extremely disappointed with Arenas’ actions and they have taken all advertising related to their team which included Arenas, including a giant billboard of Gilbert Arenas at the entrance of the stadium.

Adidas were also quick to terminate their contract with Gilbert Arenas, ending their partnership as soon as Arenas pleaded guilty of gun possession.

David Stern had already suspended the Arizona native indefinitely without pay after the pregame huddle in Philadelphia where he mimicked shooting a gun with his fingers.

gilbert arenas prison

It will be interesting to see what kind of sentence awaits Agent Zero, and the judge in the case has said that a decision will be reached near 8 weeks with a March 26 decision being estimated, but the lawyers of Gilbert Arenas requested a decision as soon as possible.

Charles Barkley Hosts SNL

General — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:44:39 +0000

Charles Barkley SNL

Charles Barkley to host Saturday Night Live tonight along with Alicia Keys. In the promo the two stars along with comedian Andy Samberg joke about gambling and it appears that it will be an entertainment show if NBC let Charles be Charles. However, there have been some very sensitive topics in the news lately, so it will be fascinating to see whether Charles Barkley will have the courage to make light of such sensitive topics. If he does, let’s hope that he keeps it in good taste because as we saw in Gilbert’s situation, the media doesn’t respond well to making light of serious situations. In fact, the media right now is straight killing any sports figure that does anything wrong.

Potential topics that Sir Charles can joke about on SNL that could get him in trouble:

-Gilbert Arenas (enough said here, I think this will be totally avoided)

-His DUI (not likely, as he had to go to prison for this and was publicly scrutinized for not taking it seriously enough at the time)

-Tiger Woods (this is most likely to come up at some point)

-Gambling in the NBA (most likely to come up)

Actually knowning Charles, he will probably poke fun at all the cases mentioned above and will manage to make us laugh depsite not always staying politically correct. After all, this is the man that once famously said “I’m not a role model”.