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N.Y. Knicks vs. Boston Celtics Tuesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Knicks vs Celtics NBA Handicapping

The theory being floated in Boston goes like this. Since you have to beat Miami to get to The Finals, do it this way:

1. Forget about seeding and rest your top players.

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L.A. Clippers vs. Dallas Mavericks Tuesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Clippers vs Mavs NBA Handicapping

A dozen games left and here’s what the Los Angeles Clippers have:

1. No worse than a 4 seed in the Western Conference playoffs (division winners can’t be seeded lower than 4th, and the Clippers have an 8-game lead in the Pacific.

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L.A. Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors Monday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Lakers vs Warriors NBA Handicapping

Mike D’Antoni is mad. Mad at his players, mad at himself, mad at his assistant coaches. Just plain, seeing-red mad.

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Utah Jazz vs. Dallas Mavericks Sunday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Jazz vs Mavs NBA Handicapping

Left for dead in a gully by the side of Interstate 20 in Dallas, the Mavericks somehow have managed to play their way back into the Western Conference playoff conversation.

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Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls Saturday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Pacers vs Bulls NBA Handicapping

Boston is down. The Bulls probably won’t get Derrick Rose back this season. The Knicks may or may not have patched things together for the stretch run.

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Detroit Pistons vs. Miami Heat Friday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Pistons vs Heat NBA Handicapping

In Muhammad Ali’s 1974 Rumble in the Jungle bout against George Foreman, Ali backed into the ropes, covered up and let Foreman wail away at him. The ropes absorbed a lot of the force of Foreman’s punches, tiring him out. Ali then attacked and won the fight.

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Portland Trail Blazers vs. Chicago Bulls Thursday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Trail Blazers vs Bulls NBA Handicapping

Strange year in Chicago, no?

Since the season started five months ago, Bulls fans have been trying to figure out when Derrick Rose would return, and how he would change expectations when he did come back.

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OKC Thunder vs. Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Thunder vs Grizzlies NBA Handicapping

It’s not often Kevin Durant goes zip-for-6 from beyond the 3-point line. It’s not often the Thunder make only 4 of 25 shots from beyond the arc.

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Denver Nuggets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Nuggets vs Thunder NBA Handicapping

Boston coach Doc Rivers always loves to point out that the NBA is a make-miss league. You make shots, you win. You miss . . . well, you know. At the end of the regular season, which we’re approaching, it’s a make-miss schedule.

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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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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.