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2014 NBA Handicapping Picks: Odds to win 2014 NBA Championship

NBA Betting By Chance?

Step right up, folks, if you think you have what it takes to take down the Heat this coming season. Lebron James predicted, what, seven titles in Miami before the show closes down?

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San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat Game 7 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Miami vs San Antonio Handicapping

It’s not really about X’s and O’s anymore. The only question that needs to be answered tonight is whether the San Antonio Spurs have enough chops to recover from Game 6, charge up their aging bodies for the second time in 48 hours, and this time make enough plays in the second half to take down the Heat on Miami’s home court.

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Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs Game 6 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Miami vs San Antonio Handicapping

You can be pretty certain that at no time this season did the Miami Heat players, coaches or front office think that come June they would be facing two consecutive elimination games at home.

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San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat Game 5 NBA Preview & Free Pick

San Antonio vs Miami Handicapping

LeBron James is LeBron James, and Tim Duncan is perhaps the most consistent big man in the last three decades in the NBA. So both the Heat and Spurs pretty much knew that their stars would bring the goods in these Finals.

NBA Finals
Miami Heat (2-2) at San Antonio Spurs (2-2)
Sunday, June 16
AT&T Center, San Antonio
8 p.m. EST
Spread – Heat -1.5
O/U – 188

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But the way series has shaken down, the spotlight has also shone brightly on other players.

Danny Green’s out-of-nowhere 7-for-9 shooting from 3-point territory in Game 3 gave San Antonio a huge boost a 2-1 series lead, then in Game 4 the Dwyane Wade of old emerged for the Heat – 32 points and six steals more than got the job done, and the Spurs had no answers as Miami evened things up with a 16-point win that wasn’t even that close.

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Seems like everyone on both teams has had a breakthrough game that has impacted the series – everyone, that is, except Manu Ginobili.

Tne Spurs proved in Games 1 and 3 that they don’t need Ginobili firing on all cylinders to win, but SA coach Gregg Popovich hopes that he can get something – anything – for his top sub.

Ginobili did have 13 points and one turnover in the opener, but even then shot only 4 for 11 from the floor. He followed that up with a 2-for-5 (5 points) in the Game 2 loss, and in the two games in San Antonio is a combined 4 for 12 for 12 points. Ginobili has been sloppy with the ball as he often has to deal with the defense of James.

Fact is, Ginobili is 35 and he’s starting to realize that he can’t do the things that he once did on the court.

“That’s what it has been all year,” Ginobili said after Game 4. “I haven’t scored 30 points a game. I averaged 10. I wish I could score more, but it is not happening. I gotta try to do other stuff. I gotta move the ball.

If my shot is not falling, I gotta be sharp feeding the bigs and finding the shooters.

… I don’t have to force the issue.
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That’s not what I do.

That’s not what I am asked to do.”

Miami is hardly cooperating. When Ginobili is on the court and the Heat ramp up their defense, it’s not a pretty sight. In Game 2 Ginobili’s three turnovers came at times when Miami went into its frenetic half-court lockdown defense, helping fuel the Heat’s crazy 33-5 eight-minute run that breathed life into the series.

With Tony Parker’s hammie on thin ice, the Spurs are hoping against hope that Ginobili can turn back the clock for a few games.

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We expected close games, and we’ve gotten three blowouts out of four as the losing teams’ adjustments have paid off. With the Finals reduced to a best-of-three, the series will now turn on whether James goes nuts in two of the three, or SA controls him (and Wade) somewhat and executes its offense at near-peak efficiency.

Liking SA to keep this game close and low-scoring, and get it done in the fourth period.

Play is on the under after two overs have bumped the number up a bit, to 188.

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San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat Game 2 NBA Preview & Free Pick

San Antonio vs Miami Handicapping

It may get a little claustrophobic at American Airlines Arena tonight, where the San Antonio Spurs have a golden opportunity to place the Miami Heat in a small box when Game 2 of the NBA Finals tips off.

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San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat Game 1 NBA Preview & Free Pick

San Antonio vs Miami Handicapping

It’s been a week and change since the Spurs last played a game, so when they take the court tonight in Miami in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, it’s easy to forget just how dominant San Antonio has been since the 82-game exhibition season ended way back in the middle of April.

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Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers Game 6 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Miami vs Indiana Handicapping

LeBron James is back to his default setting, returning to what worked in high school and AAU basketball, and how it was done when the Cleveland Cavaliers consisted of just him and a bunch of cadavers.

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Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers Game 3 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Miami vs Indiana Handicapping

As Arte Johnson used to say on the 1960s television show “Laugh In” – Verrrrry interesting. The Pacers’ surprising Game 2 win in Miami may not exactly have the Heat back on their heels, but the victory has caught the attention of fans nationally.

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San Antonio Spurs vs. Memphis Grizzlies Game 3 NBA Preview & Free Pick

San Antonio vs Memphis Handicapping

If the Memphis Grizzlies proved anything in their Game 2 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, it’s that despite what many of us may have thought, they Grizz indeed are capable of coming from behind despite their deliberate pound-the-ball-in-low offense.

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Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat Game 2 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Indiana vs Miami Handicapping

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference playoff finals can’t tip off soon enough for Indiana coach Frank Vogel, who has spent the last 36 hours being second-guessed – and second-guessing himself – for leaving his best big man on the bench in the final seconds of Game 1 and watching LeBron James and the Heat take the Pacers’ lunch money.

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Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat Game 1 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Indiana vs Miami Handicapping

Is there any way on God’s green earth that that the Indiana Pacers can take out the Miami Heat in their Eastern Conference finals series that begins tonight?

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Memphis Grizzlies vs. San Antonio Spurs Game 2 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Memphis vs San Antonio Handicapping

When teams get this far into the playoffs, talent tends to even out and coaches have to start really earning their money by making adjustments.

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NBA Series Predictions: Pacers vs. Heat Free Betting Preview

Handicapping Indiana vs Miami Series

The Miami Heat are not one of the great teams in NBA history. They would have been over-run by the Showtime Lakers. The Larry Bird Celtics would have bigged them to death.

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Memphis Grizzlies vs. San Antonio Spurs Game 1 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Memphis vs San Antonio Handicapping

Cringe if you must when you watch them play, but it’s about time that NBA fans started to acknowledge what NBA coaches have known all season – namely, that the Memphis Grizzlies have a legitimate shot at getting to The Finals.

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N.Y. Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers Game 6 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Knicks vs Pacers Handicapping

Will this series be the first NBA post-season battle to be decided not on the court but by the league’s new concussion policy?

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Indiana Pacers vs. N.Y. Knicks Game 5 NBA Preview & Free Pick

Indiana vs NY Handicapping

Mike Woodson has tried just about everything.  Changes in the starting lineup.  Going small.  Going big.  Going more physical.  Doubling Roy Hibbert, of all people.

Eastern Conference
Indiana Pacers (3-1) at New York Knicks (1-3)
Thursday, May 16
Madison Square Garden, New York
8 p.m. EST
Spread – Knicks -4.5 at Bovada
O/U – 179

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Nothing has worked, and you wonder if even Woodson realizes at this point that the chances of winning three straight over the Pacers and getting to the Eastern Conference finals are about the same as buying a real $100 Rolex from a street vendor outside Madison Square Garden.

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The Knicks have the look and feel of a team that is out of options. Every player who took some pressure of Carmelo Anthony by making shots against soft defenses in the regular season is turtling.

J.R. Smith can’t even make a layup at this point, let alone fire in threes with hands in his face. Amare Stoudemire clearly doesn’t yet have his legs under him after returning from injury.

The Knicks would love to get some offense out of PG Ray Felton, but he’s been missing in action for two games and over the entire series the Knicks have been outscored by 32 points during the time he has been on the court. Felton was even a minus-2 in New York’s only victory, in Game 2.

That leaves Carmelo Anthony, who may or may not be 100 percent (with him you never know) to stem the tide Thursday night in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden.

Anthony loves to score and needs the ball to be effective, and unless a few of his teammates step up tonight, he’ll need a 35- or 40-point game to get things done. Can you blame him for being a ball hog the way the rest of the team has turtled? [ad-6571516]

All of which leaves the Pacers in better than pretty good shape as they head for New York with their pockets full of house money.

They shot barely 40 percent from the field in Game 4, missing 24 three-pointers and playing an all-around crummy game at home, and still came out on top.

Now they have three chances to put this away, including one more at home if needed and against a Knicks team that looks like a gunslinger who has used up all the bullets in his chamber but keeps pulling the trigger.

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This one could be decided in the first 8 minutes.

The Knicks are a front-running team that draws energy from itself. A good start opens things up for an offense which has underperformed in 12 of the 16 quarters played so far, and a slow start might result in some panic at the thought of seeing it all crumble at home.

NY appears to have played its best basketball in the Boston series and now is out of answers.

Indiana to cover the 4.5, with aggressive bettors biting at the money line for a better payoff.