Straight favorite ticket

MIAMI (-6.5) over Washington

Denver (-1.5) over CHICAGO

Portland (-5.5) over MEMPHIS

Orlando (-3.5) over CHARLOTTE

DALLAS (-6.5) over Houston

Oklahoma City (-1.5) over SACRAMENTO

Last night: 4-1

Season: 53-49

Picking quickly on Monday night

Phoenix over PHILADELPHIA (-0.5)

NEW YORK over Utah (-4.5)

SAN ANTONIO (-6.5) over Toronto

Minnesota over GOLDEN STATE (-6.5)

New Orleans over LA CLIPPERS (-1.5)

Last night: 4-2

Season: 49-48

Picking slow on Sunday morning

DETROIT (-1.5) over Philadelphia

Phoenix (-0.5) over WASHINGTON

Orlando (-4.5) over OKLAHOMA CITY

Minnesota over PORTLAND (-13.5)

SACRAMENTO over Golden State (-3.5)

LA LAKERS (-7.5) over New Orleans

Last night: 4-3

Season: 45-46

Sleepy Friday carries into the weekend

Denver over ATLANTA (-3.5)

Boston (-12.5) over NEW JERSEY

Charlotte over CHICAGO (-7.5)

MILWAUKEE (-4.5) over New York

LA CLIPPERS (-5.5) over Memphis

Sacramento over UTAH (-14.5)

DALLAS (-7.5) over Toronto

Last night: 5-8

Season: 41-43

13 Lucky Games

Sleepy Friday


After bopping a conference call last night in an academic building at the prestigious Union College, these are the picks Acks, Boof and I decided on.


Washington (-1.5) over INDIANA - Indiana sucks. Agent zero will be present to drop some bop.

ORLANDO (-14.5) over Detroit - Lots of puntos, but we can't see Dwight Howard fouling out in 17 minutes again. The Magic will get their revenge win at home by numerous puntos against the Prince-less Pistons.

PHILADELPHIA (-12.5) over New Jersey - This line might seem high, but you have to remember that Jay-Z will be starting at point guard for them. INJURIES

BOSTON (-9.5) over Phoenix - They had a stinker against Minny. They won, but not by their expected margin. This will be a bounce-back game for them... by their standards. Boof Boof Boof

Cleveland (-8.5) over NEW YORK - Acksclown and Boof the clown are responsible for this one. Points and the win from me, but majority rules = bopping. Way to leave me hanging guys (J, Tek, Rohak).

Atlanta (-2.5) over CHARLOTTE - Crazy cross country schedule for the Hawks, but they do have wings. I am a booster of the predatory birds.

Denver (-1.5) over MIAMI - Melo is wrecking people. He is a solid MVP candidate. The Nuggets are also taking care of business this season, so this line seemed low to us.

Toronto over NEW ORLEANS (-5.5) - Boof claimed that CP3 would cover the line by himself. We found this hard to believe.

Milwaukee over MINNESOTA (-1.5) - Buck 'em both... but we'll take the Bucks. They play some defense.

Oklahoma City over HOUSTON (-6.5) - OKC boosters here. Not to be confused with OKC bombers.

LA Clippers over GOLDEN STATE (-5.5) - We didn't feel too good about this game either way, so we took the points.

San Antonio over PORTLAND (-3.5) - We all know how Acks feels about the 'Blazers, and as long as Pop decides to play Tim Duncan for at least 20 minutes, we like the Spurs and the win.

LA LAKERS (-10.5) over Memphis - Whether or not Pau is dropping the bop on his little bro for the first time this season, we like the defending Champs.

This was written during the academic affairs committee I'm on with a bunch of deans. I'm now off to get ready for my Bhangra dance performance this evening. Straight ballin'.

Peace

Last night: 0-2
Season: 36-35

Central Division showdown gets national TV billing

CLEVELAND (-11.5) over Chicago - We'll be moderately surprised if the Cavs don't take care of business in this one. We'll be absolutely stunned if they don't come out wearing some kind of alternate jerseys, which seems to happen every time the Cavs are nationally televised - and somehow didn't on opening night against the Celtics.

San Antonio (-1.5) over UTAH - We're just not that excited about the Jazz thus far.

Last night: 2-8
Season: 36-33

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

Clash of the titans at ARCO

New Orleans (-2.5) over NEW YORK - Tek offered the following in quickly defusing J Stein's suggestion of the 'Bockers this morning: "No matter how resilient this Knicks team is, we're gonna leave the points on the table for this one."

New Jersey over CHARLOTTE (-7.5)

Houston over UTAH (-9.5)

SACRAMENTO (-0.5) over Memphis - What a train wreck.

Minnesota over LA CLIPPERS (-7.5)

Last night: 4-3

Season: 25-20

Orlando to keep rollin' north of the border

Orlando (-6.5) over TORONTO

BOSTON (-12.5) over New Orleans

MIAMI (-3.5) over Chicago

OKLAHOMA CITY over Portland (-2.5), and to win

DENVER (-12.5) over Memphis

Minnesota over PHOENIX (-13.5)

LA LAKERS (-7.5) over Atlanta

Last night: 3-4

Season: 20-18