NBA Picks Against the Spread

A day after Thanksgiving, the NBA is back with a full slate of games. This is a good time to point out that just because there are a bunch of NBA games on the schedule, doesn't mean it's time start placing bets on all of them. Some days there may only be 3 games on the schedule and you may like them all, while other days there might be 10 plus games, but none of them will look very appealing. Remain patient and pick and choose the games you like. Make sure you are maximizing your probability of winning by checking out 6 Rules to Follow when Gambling on Sports. There are just a couple of NBA games I like for Friday. Here are the picks and analysis.

Cleveland Cavaliers at -4.5
Charlotte Bobcats

Analysis: The Cleveland Cavaliers are a much better NBA team than the Bobcats. A point spread of just 4.5 seems pretty small for Cleveland, even if this game is on the road. Bobcats guard Stephen Jackson is one of the most overrated players in the NBA. He is a poor shooter who consistently takes bad shots. The result is more often than not a poor field goal percentage. King James should be all Cleveland needs to coast to an easy victory and should have no problem covering the point spread of 4.5

Pick: Cleveland -4.5

San Antonio Spurs at
Houston Rockets -1

Analysis: The San Antonio Spurs travel to Houston in this NBA Texas showdown. Under normal circumstances, the Spurs would be heavy favorites but since they are banged up, they actually come in as the underdogs with a point spread of +1. Even with the injuries, the Spurs still have Tim Duncan and he should be enough to get by a Houston Rockets team that no longer has any go to player. It pretty much says it all when Luis Scola has been one of Houston's best players so far this season. Despite the injuries, San Antonio should still be able to put the Rockets in their place. Since they are the underdogs, there is no point spread for them to cover and they just have to win.

Pick: San Antonio +1

So to recap, the 2 NBA picks against the point spread are San Antonio +1 and Cleveland -4.5