A THREE SERIES STRIKE

[Happy Hippo]

90-80-5 overall
2-2 playoffs
88-78-5 regular season

2-2 last night
Spreads: 48-45-2
O/Us: 39-28-3
MLs: 1-4
1st half: 1-1
Team tot: 1-3

i've decided to concentrate on just 3 of the NBA series in the first round, although i may still post O/Us for other series, but most likely no plays on the spreads



SERIES #1 PACERS vs. NETS


They are good. They are way better than the Nets. They play team basketball - in the last game stephen jackson took the most shots of anyone on the team, with 15 (he was 8-15) followed by stojakovic (5-11), a. johnson (3-10) & JO (5-10) - this is 4 of their 5 starters. The Pacers played 11 players off their roster and the Nets played 8. All of the Nets big 3 played longer than Jackson from the Pacers who played the most for their team. For the Nets, Carter was 12-33 followed by krstic (9-15) then jefferson & kidd (6-11 & 2-11). I think Carlisle is a brilliant coach and his gameplan looked like it was meant to shut down kidd, the motor of the nets, and without him the whole system shut down. obviously the nets will adjust, but if you can shut down 2 out of 3 of the nets big 3, then they will win. Indiana can do this with the 5th best defense in the league, and they have proven it especially against the nets by winning 7 of their last 10 meetings, including 4 of their last 6 in new jersey. The Nets got hot near the end of the season, but they peaked at the wrong time. Indiana has rested players ready to go and they are just now at the top of their game.

defense wins games and covers spreads (which is why the Spurs are dominating the Kings right now - the Kings are still learning to play D, being an offensive team for so long)....

Pacers = better defense
Pacers = better offense
Pacers = better bench

that said - here are my bets on the Pacers


PACERS (best of 7) +293
PACERS in 5 games +1884

**the odds on these two lines have gone down - i bet on them before the last game but didn't have time to post, but the odds are still pretty nice**


PACERS +7.5 for Tuesday's game

I bet the ML in the first Pacer's game, but I think the Nets are going to win one and it could be this one, so I'll lay off this time...

 

[Happy Hippo]

BABY BULLS

BABY BULLS


SERIES #2 BULLS vs. HEAT

The Bulls had a fairly horrible first half of their season and a great ending. They have learned to play together as the small young team that they are, partially because their coach scott skiles played very much like many of his young players - fast and athletic. Despite being small, they make up for their inside game athletically with strong players such as Chandler - the Bulls are #1 in the league in field goal defense - this is tough vs. Shaq and Wade, who lead the Heat to the #1 fg percentage team in the league. This makes a great matchup, and one the Bulls look ready for. They have playoff experience as a team, with very few changes in their lineup from last year. They have many overlooked young stars who can light it up - hinrich, deng, nocioni, gordon... I think the Bulls are going to win this series. The Heat still do not look like they have learned to play together since adding so many veterans, which I think is a problem - they all have their styles already and seem more difficult to coach then the bulls. In the last game, Shaq & Wade scored 51.4% of the Heat's points. They will have to have that kind of game and more again. Despite being outrebounded, the Bulls controlled the tempo of the game and had 11 more field goal attempts than the Heat. The Heat like to play fast offensive games and the Bulls like to play fast physical games, which is not good for the aging Heat.


BULLS (best of 7) +940



BULLS +8 for Monday's game win
BULLS ML for Monday's game loss

 

[Happy Hippo]

MIDWEST FLAVORS

MIDWEST FLAVORS

denver really is in the midwest, let's face it, so all of my series picks come from the heart of the country, where people have plenty of time to watch basketball which is why these teams have such great fans and their home courts are tough places to play


SERIES #3 NUGGETS vs. CLIPPERS


Experience, better coach, better bench, high altitude home court, carmelo anthony ready to have a big series after getting his average performance game out of the way....

the nuggets need to steal a game tonight in L.A. and then they should get it done at home

:weed: smoke em' nuggets :weed:

NUGGETS (best of 7) +225


NUGGETS +4 for Monday's game loss
NUGGETS ML for Monday's game loss

 

[Happy Hippo]

POINTS POINTS POINTS

POINTS POINTS POINTS

BULLS-HEAT OVER 195 win

NUGGETS-CLIPPERS OVER 191 loss


GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

 

[DeadPrez]

good luck hipster hipdog

love your write-ups and rationale behind them

go nuggets! :weed:

I also feel very strongly about the pacers handling the nets in this series

 

[CherryPicker]

GL tonight, HH - I am taling you here bro.

 

[Happy Hippo]

PAYDAY WITH THE PACERS

PAYDAY WITH THE PACERS

thanks friends - hopefully we can hit these tonight


There is one question that I have been pondering all day - who in the east is going to handle the Pacers? If they beat the Nets in this series, they will face the Bulls or the Heat - and they are probably hoping for the Heat, since they are 16-4 SU in their last 20 games vs the Heat and 7-2 SU in their last 9. I think they can also beat the Bulls (who I think will beat the Heat), although it might be a tougher matchup for them. But the Pacers have a great chance to be in the eastern conference finals.

Can they beat the Pistons? They are only 3-7 SU in their last 10 vs the Pistons, which does not look promising. But the Pistons have not looked all that promising recently, either. Although they soundly beat the Bucks, it was really not until the very end of the game that they blew them out - I thought it would be a game like the Spurs-Kings and it should have been. The Pistons should dominate the Bucks, and the fact that they are not so far shows some weakness. I am not sure what it is about them this year, but they seem to have lost some confidence as the year went on. Maybe it was too much pressure to get the best record ever in Detroit history and failing - I'm not sure... Now this could easily turn around and they could look like the Pistons of the years before, but I think teams can take advantage of them this year. I think they have a tougher road to the finals, having to face the hungry Cavs (most likely) or the young gunning Wizards.

Can the Pacers beat the Pistons in the eastern conference finals? :shrug: I'll say YES :grins: - the odds are just too nice!

PACERS TO WIN EASTERN CONFERENCE +3300