How much better would our record be if Acks could be rational about the Blazers?

Nobody knows.

CLEVELAND (-10.5) over Charlotte

Indiana over NEW YORK (-8.5)

San Antonio (-1.5) over TORONTO

DENVER (-6.5) over Philadelphia

LA LAKERS (-6.5) over Dallas

Will AT addition change Acks' tune on the Blazers?

It's unlikely.

ORLANDO (-8.5) over Portland

Utah over CHARLOTTE (-3.5)

PHILADELPHIA (-3.5) over LA Clippers

Atlanta (-4.5) over CHICAGO

LA Lakers (-12.5) over NEW JERSEY

Oklahoma City over HOUSTON (-3.5)

MILWAUKEE (-6.5) over Sacramento

Indiana over SAN ANTONIO (-12.5)

Washington over PHOENIX (-10.5)

Acks, of course, likes Miami "and to win"

TORONTO (-6.5) over Washington

Boston (-4.5) over CHARLOTTE

Phoenix (-7.5) over NEW YORK

Miami over PORTLAND (-7.5)

LA LAKERS (-15.5) over New Orleans

Golden State over DENVER (-15.5)

Last night: 1-3

Season: 138-114

Acks in flight, Portland all right

INDIANA (-5.5) over LA Clippers

Toronto over CHARLOTTE (-3.5)

BOSTON (-12.5) over Philadelphia

Dallas over HOUSTON (-4.5)

Golden State over SAN ANTONIO (-13.5)

Milwaukee over NEW ORLEANS (-2.5)

Miami over ORLANDO (-9.5)

PORTLAND (-13.5) over New Jersey

SACRAMENTO (-4.5) over New York

Denver (-8.5) over MINNESOTA

Cleveland (-5.5) over DETROIT

PHOENIX (-10.5) over Memphis

Last night: 4-2

Season: 113-94

Will western back-to-back slow Hawks?

WASHINGTON (-3.5) over Miami - Both teams come off losses last night, so we'll lean with the one going road-to-home rather than the other way around.

NEW YORK over Indiana (-5.5) - Whatever. This is what happens when a significant portion of the Picksix contingent is comprised of Knicks fans. That said, Indiana has been a horror show thus far.

Boston (-10.5) over MINNESOTA - Celts' average margin of victory in their first five games: 21.6 points per.

Atlanta (-4.5) over SACRAMENTO - The source of some debate on last night's Picksix conference call. While I worry that despite the low caliber of opponent, a back-to-back out West could lead to a sluggish effort from the Hawks, Acks says, "Don't over-think it. The Hawks are much better." That's the word.

Memphis over GOLDEN STATE (-6.5) - The Director says he has an inkling that this is going to be a blowout one way or the other, but since both teams are train wrecks, we'll take the points.

Phoenix over ORLANDO (-8.5) - Too many puntos with Phoenix still yet to lose and the Magic having health questions.

Detroit over TORONTO (-8.5) - No Prince, probably no Rip, but this is still too many puntos.

Denver (-8.5) over NEW JERSEY - Nowhere near enough points to convince us into the Nets sans Devin Harris.

LA Lakers (-1.5) over HOUSTON - Seem low to you? Us too.

Dallas over NEW ORLEANS (-4.5) - And to win.

Last night: 6-3

Season: 34-25

Massacre a-comin' in Motown?

Denver (-4.5) over INDIANA

Boston (-6.5) over PHILADELPHIA - Even though we're not taking them tonight, this still seems like a good time to mention that the Sixers' decision to return to the old-style look both with regard to uniforms and the court design at Wachovia Center is the early frontrunner for top move of the offseason. Even watching Philly home games on television feels like stepping in a time machine.

MIAMI (-3.5) over Phoenix - The "Shaq's last two stops prior to Cleveland" bowl. We actually flipped a coin to decide this game before Tek made a belated re-entrance to the conference call and demanded Miami. Seriously, we (sans Tek) were that non-committal on this. Good to have our version of Sesame Street's Bert around to keep us decisive.

LA Lakers (-7.5) over OKLAHOMA CITY - Much as all of us like the Thunder this season - and we do quite a bit, especially on nights when they get points - this is still too low to pass on the champs, even without Pau.

DALLAS (-5.5) over Utah - Anyone catch the Jazz getting toasted at home by the depleted Rockets last night? We're going to hold off on Utah for another day or two.

Milwaukee over CHICAGO (-8.5) - Too many puntos.

Orlando (-6.5) over DETROIT - Find us one person who is excited about Pistons basketball this season. Go ahead. We dare you.

CLEVELAND (-11.5) over Washington - At the time of last night's Picksix conference call, no line had come out for this game yet, and the general consensus was to take Cleveland with the presumption that the line would be in the 10-12 range. Consensus besides Tek, that is, who apparently hates the Wizards: "No changes below 25." Personally, I've been rather intrigued by a thus-far healthy Arenas and a blowin'-up Andray Blatche...but at this line, we'll stick with a home team that we're trusting has recovered from last week's malaise.

Atlanta over PORTLAND (-7.5) - Monumental step on the call last night when Tek actually coerced Acks (who usually can't be reasoned with on Portland matters) to negotiate: The world's angriest former Mets fan (as Acks put: "When the Mets extended Omar Minaya, I opted out on renewing my fanship") actually agreed to take Portland if the line came out at under two and a half. He swears he knew there was no way it would be that low and just wanted to get to sleep rather than harangue Tek about Greg Oden until the wee hours of Tuesday morning. But we still say Tek has made one small step for man and one Earth-shattering development for the rest of the Picksix crew.

Last night: 3-2

Season: 28-22

Acks remains reluctant to pick the Blazers

ATLANTA (-12.5) over Minnesota

BOSTON (-15.5) over LA Clippers

MIAMI (-9.5) over Memphis

Chicago (-7.5) over WASHINGTON

Denver over PHOENIX (-3.5)

Philadelphia over PORTLAND (-8.5)

Orlando (-5.5) over NEW YORK

Last night: 4-3

Season: 538-509

Xmas slate doesn't disappoint

ORLANDO (-4.5) over New Orleans - The Magic have won nine of 10, including victories over the Spurs and Lakers. They don't have the fourth-best record in basketball for nothing.

PHOENIX (-2.5) over San Antonio - When in doubt, go with the home team in a holiday match-up where players' minds may be elsewhere.

Boston over LA LAKERS (-1.5) - We're not looking to bet against a team with 19 straight victories and the best start in NBA history.

CLEVELAND (-14.5) over Washington - LeBron's team is a lot better than DeShawn Stevenson's. And yes, it is insulting to call the Wiz Deshawn Stevenson's team. But it seemed to fit the parallelism here.

Dallas over PORTLAND (-4.5) - Dear Acks,

Merry Christmas. You're welcome.

Your friends,

Boof, Tek, J, Anil

Last night: 0-0

Tuesday: 7-5

Season: 218-202

Red-hot Cavs to keep rollin'

TORONTO (-5.5) over Atlanta - The Hawks haven't beaten anyone of note lately. We're not too excited about them on the road.

BOSTON (-8.5) over Philadelphia - It would be great if the Celts could put together a complete 48 minutes, but as it stands, they're doing all right anyway.

CLEVELAND (-12.5) over Golden State - They whacked the Knicks by 18 (and it wasn't that close) then bopped the Thunder by 35. LeBron has played a total of 47 minutes in his last two games. He'll be ready to roll.

DETROIT (-9.5) over Milwaukee - Acks thinks the Bucks are terrible. At 7-10 and 13th in the East, he might not be too far off.

Charlotte over INDIANA (-6.5) - We're telling you, Larry Brown's team likes to lose close. Or at least is capable of it.

PHOENIX (-8.5) over Miami - Color us unimpressed by the Heat's 38-point loss in Portland.

Minnesota (-2.5) over OKLAHOMA CITY - Nice first effort by the Thunder in Scott Brooks' debut, losing 99-98 to Phoenix. Then they gave up the first 13 the next night and trailed by 40 at the end of the three quarters. We'll pass.

UTAH (-10.5) over Sacramento - The Jazz weren't having too much difficulty without Deron Williams. He's back now.

New Orleans over PORTLAND (-3.5) - Talk to Acks 'bout that one.

LA LAKERS (-10.5) over Dallas - This is the type of line you cover when you're head and shoulders above the rest of your conference as the Lakers have been thus far.

SAN ANTONIO (-10.5) over Memphis - Remember when people were ready to pronounce the Spurs' death sentence? Yeah, that was about a week and a half ago. No mas.

Last night: 1-1

Season: 112-112

The Thunder are really bad

Houston (-8.5) over OKLAHOMA CITY - See headline.

Phoenix over UTAH (-1.5) - The Suns sure looked good against Detroit last night, and Utah's health across the board remains a mystery (Okur, Kirilenko, Williams all listed as questionable).

San Antonio over LA CLIPPERS (-2.5) - Acks: "The Clips suck, bro." Giving up 37 to Anthony Morrow didn't impress us.

Last night: 1-5

Season: 66-79

Clipped

As utterly ludicrous as this sounds, we actually believed last night, with the Clippers up 81-79 over the Lakers and roughly seven minutes to play, that we had something better than an outside shot to cover a 15 1/2 point line.

Alas, only the truest of saps couldn't see what was to come next: 22 straight Laker points en route to a 106-88 final.

You can't make this stuff up.

On to Thursday's TNT doubleheader...

ORLANDO (-4.5) over Philadelphia - The Sixers have been shaky so far, particularly on the road. They blew a 23-point lead in Atlanta last week and got hammered from start to finish by Miami last night. We'll wait for them to get back home to the Wachovia Center.

Houston (-4.5) over PORTLAND - I present to you one Acks Minakyan, diehard Trail Blazers fan. His thoughts:

"I can get Houston for single digits? I love that Houston line. That's way too...low. Because apparently everyone and [his] mother loves Portland this season. Which is really...stupid, if I've mentioned that before. It's really...stupid. On a scale of one to really...stupid, it's off the charts. They suck. They're going to continue to suck for years to come."

Here's guessing the outlook for Kevin Pritchard's team is a bit rosier than Acks makes it seem. But we do like such a low line for a Houston team that is quite good.

Last night: 7-6

Season: 37-26

Black Tek patches and the dawn of an era

CLEVELAND (-9.5) over Charlotte - An unhappy LeBron plus a bad Charlotte team should equate to a bopping.

DALLAS (-3.5) over Houston - Time for an extended discourse on the dynamics of the current incarnation of the Picksix crew:

Since day one this season, Acks and I have been wearing black "TP" patches on the shoulders of our handicapping uniforms in tribute of our missing colleague, the incomparable Tek Kothary, who is spending the first half of the season traveling overseas. Despite our wonderful technological progress, Tek's availability throughout this early portion of the season will be spotty at best. In his honor, we have affixed the TP to our shoulders to keep us reminded of his favorite phrase, "Tek peeved," used so often on a night when a pick or two of his was overruled and came back to bite us. Tek, we're eagerly awaiting your return, and you'll always have a spot on this motley crew.

In the meantime, we have augmented this year's brain trust with the addition (again, that's addition, not replacement) of longtime Picksix ally J Stein.

And that brings us to Dallas-Houston. J made his first statement of boldness during last night's picks conference call, the first of his career. Citing both film and statistical study, the newcomer roundly rejected the reasoning of taking the superior team getting the points (Houston) and told us he had 'a feeling' about the Mavs. And so it is.

Welcome aboard, J. Tek (and longtime buddy and future Picksix recruit Anil, who is also overseas), we'll be here when you're ready.

New Orleans over PHOENIX (-1.5) - We really like Chris Paul. You're going to want to get used to that.

Last night: 7-5

Season: 9-6