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Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics Monday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Heat vs Celtics NBA Handicapping

Because the talent divide in the NBA is so great, long winning streaks are possible. Talent almost always wins out, and on occasion a superstar call in the finals seconds assures that the underdog won’t be able to pull off an upset.

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L.A. Lakers vs. Indiana Pacers Friday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Lakers vs Pacers NBA Handicapping

Nut-cracking time for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. The same guy who several weeks ago was so critical of Dwight Howard’s unwillingness to play with pain now finds himself in the same (uncomfortable) spot.

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N.Y. Knicks vs. Portland Trail Blazers Thursday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Knicks vs Blazers NBA Handicapping

Now what?

Wasn’t that long ago that the Knicks were riding high, the Garden rocking again. Close your eyes, listen to the crowd noise and you could swear that it was Walt Frazier and Willis Reed out there on the court again.

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Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs Thursday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Mavs vs Spurs NBA Handicapping

Gregg Popovich has been around the block enough times to know all about the ups and downs of an NBA season. But even Pops must be a puzzled, and maybe even a little frustrated, by his team’s play since Tony Parker went down with an ankle injury on the first day of the month.

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Memphis Grizzlies vs. L.A. Clippers Wednesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Grizzlies vs Clippers NBA Handicapping

It doesn’t have quite the panache of a game between the Heat and Thunder, but if tonight’s matchup between the Grizzlies and Clippers at Staples Center in Los Angeles were a boxing match, it would be a very interesting undercard battle.

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Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat Tuesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Hawks vs Heat NBA Handicapping

It’s time for the Atlanta Hawks to start to take stock in this season and figure out just who they are and how they want to finish the year.

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NBA

OKC Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs Monday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Thunder vs Spurs NBA Handicapping

The Thunder and Spurs each have 18 games left after’s tonight’s battle in San Antonio, so this one hardly means curtains for the loser as the teams maneuver for the best record in the Western Conference and the right to home-court advantage in any upcoming playoff series.

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Chicago Bulls vs. San Antonio Spurs Wednesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Bulls vs Spurs NBA Handicapping

Here’s what we know about the Eastern Conference playoffs, which don’t get under way until the middle of April:

1. The Heat will be the top seed.

Chicago Bulls (34-26) at San Antonio Spurs (47-14)
Wednesday, March 6
AT&T Center, San Antonio
9 p.m. EST
Spread – Spurs -7.5 at BOVADA
O/U – 191.5

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2. The Pacers and Knicks will be 2-3, or 3-2.
3. The other five teams in the mix will be Brooklyn, Atlanta, Boston, Milwaukee and Chicago, in some order that probably won’t be determined until the last musket is fired.

Everyone wants to avoid the 8th seed and a first-round elimination date with the Heat, a thought which until recently never crossed the minds of fans in Chicago.

But the way the Bulls have been playing recently, a free fall to the bottom of the playoff heap looks entirely possible.

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Chicago’s started innocently enough with a head-scratching loss to the Wizards in late January, a defeat which kicked off an 8-10 stretch which has removed the Bulls from the conference elite and raised two key questions: When is Derrick Rose coming back, and is Tom Thibodeau wearing out his starters?

Rose has finally been sighted on the Bulls’ bench, albeit in street clothes. “It’s just the next step,” said Thibodeau of Rose’s presence during games. “He may not even be out there all the time.

If he wants to come out, great. If he doesn’t, that’s fine, too. Again, his focus has to be on the rehab.

The team has to focus on our improvement and our next game. So at some point he’ll be ready to go.” [ad-6571516]

Rose has made it clear that he’s not coming back until he feels he’s 100 percent good to go, and since the league’s best offensive PG isn’t talking much, no one knows when that will be.

Until that question is answered, focus in Chicago is on the team’s recent struggles.

The bump in the road has included a 71-69 loss in Boston which may have been one of the worst games in the history of the NBA and a defeat at home to the Cavaliers.

Thibodeau, considered on the league’s top coaches, is starting to take a little heat for keeping his bigs on the floor for huge minutes. Luol Deng played 44 minutes in a recent game against Brooklyn, and Joakim Noah played more than 40 four times in the last 10 games, including 45 against the 76ers.

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Would have been an interesting late-season PG battle between Rose and Tony Parker. Parker’s absence was hardly noticed in SA’s 114-75 victory over the Pistons, who appear to have officially started playing out the string.

Tonight will be a bigger test as Chicago’s pressure defense and tightened rotation is tested by the Spurs’ deep bench.

Expecting same-old, same-old here with the Spurs getting it done sans Parker.

Totals players should be aware that the Bulls have scored in triple digits only once in the last month, and the Spurs might take a few quarters to figure things out in their first decent test without Parker.

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L.A. Lakers vs. OKC Thunder Tuesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Lakers vs Thunder NBA Handicapping

The Lakers have finally found some balance – in the NBA standings anyway. For the first time since December (15-15), they find themselves with as many wins (30) as losses.

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Miami Heat vs. Minnesota Timberwolves Wednesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Heat vs Timberwolves NBA Handicapping

Miami’s incredible late-season run is an obvious message to the rest of the Eastern Conference that there is not much that can be done to prevent the Heat from heading to the NBA Finals again.

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Golden State Warriors vs. N.Y. Knicks Wednesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Warriors vs Knicks NBA Handicapping

Two of the most bipolar teams in the league go at it tonight in the Big Apple when the Golden State Warriors take on the New York Knicks.

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Sacramento Kings vs. Miami Heat Tuesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Kings vs Heat NBA Handicapping

With a six-game lead over their nearest rivals and only 28 games left, about the only thing that could stop the Miami Heat from finishing with the best record in the Eastern Conference is an inopportune (wince here) ACL injury.

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L.A. Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets Monday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Grizzlies vs Raptors NBA Handicapping

The Lakers will be in the playoffs when the blanks are replaced by real bullets come the middle of April. At least that what Kobe Bryant says.

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Memphis Grizzlies vs. Toronto Raptors Wednesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Grizzlies vs Raptors NBA Handicapping

For the last decade or so the Toronto Raptors have served one useful purpose – they prevent the really good teams from getting bored by having to play only each other all the time.

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Boston Celtics vs. L.A. Lakers Wednesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Celtics vs Lakers NBA Handicapping

Four games under .500, 3½ games out of a playoff spot. Twenty-eight games to go in the regular season.

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Boston Celtics vs. Denver Nuggets Tuesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Celtics vs Nuggets NBA Handicapping

Should we call this one the Usain Bolt Invitational?

Coming off the All-Star break rested and ready to make a serious run for a high seed in the Western Conference playoffs, the Denver Nuggets have played 16 consecutive games in which one team (and most often both) has scored in triple digits.