Mavericks Cover in Playoff Win!

Our Free NBA Picks used to be our bread and butter here at Stock Lemon. For some reason, we didn't have the same amount of plays this year as we did last season, when we hit 67% of our 60 plays. 

Needless to say, we should really get back to our bread and butter. 

The Mavericks covered the +4 spread and won straight up in game one of their series against the Spurs, 105-97. 

The Mavs win gives us a 9-5 Free NBA Pick record in 2009, which is 64%. We have plenty of ground to make up if we want to catch last season's 60 games, so stay with us throughout the NBA playoffs and we'll see how close we can get. 

It's NBA Playoff Time!

The dogs are barking in the first day of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, and we hear them loud and clear. That said, we have one dog for tonight. 

Mavericks +4 over the Spurs

Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs are hot, and with the Spurs playing without Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan and Co. might be in trouble during this series. Certainly, this game can catch them off guard. 

Our Free NBA Picks are 8-5 in 2009, which is 62%. We hope to maintain that solid percentage as we actually start playing a good chunk of games. 

Good luck and remember to make Stock Lemon your home for the 2009 NBA Playoffs!

Free NBA Picks Hitting 67% in 2009!

Just don't tell anyone our record is only 4-2. 

Still, 4-2 is a lot better than what we were doing in 2008. In case you missed it, we improved to this impressive 67% record after the Mavericks and Magic scored under 208 points in a 105-95 Mavs win. 

You can probably expect to see a lot more of our Free NBA Picks this month, so stay tuned. 

And remember, they're hitting 67%!!!!!!!!

Free NBA Picks Hope to Fill Super Bowl Void

We've had plenty to talk about lately with all of the Super Bowl prop bets being made, but the game is over and it's time to move on. Enough about the Super Bowl, let's talk... NBA!

Our Free NBA Picks have actually been respectable lately, so we aren't afraid to throw one out there while we still have decent traffic from the Super Bowl.

Magic/Mavericks UNDER 208

Over/Unders are rare in our system, but they've faired pretty well in the past in the few opportunities they get. 

Good luck!

Mark Cuban's Insider Trading Coincidence

As you probably heard in the last few days, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, not the Southeastern Conference) recently charged Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with some insider trading that allegedly netted him about $750k by selling stock in MAMA, or Mamma.com.

Apparently, Cuban had some information that was supposed to be confidential and he used the info to sell the stock before the info that he knew became public. Which is just about the exact definition of insider trading. Only, as we've learned, it looks like a phone transcript between Cuban and Mamma.com pretty obviously clears Cuban's name, but that's neither here nor there.

We just wanted to point out a little piece of information that might be helpful to the SEC, since they need something to base their charges on. How about this: Cuban posted on his blog, blogmaverick.com, November 17 about the charges against him, after not posting anything for three days. The last post?

Titled: I hate to lose.

So what if the post is about his Mavericks and their sluggish start to the NBA season, isn't it a little ironic that his last post is about how he hates to lose, when he's being charged for selling stocks so that he didn't lose a big chunk of change? Or, maybe, the last post is forshadowing how the case will be resolved--with Cuban doing everything he can not to lose.

Either way, the SEC might as well take this possible Freudian slip into evidence. It's better than anything else they've got.

Hornets and Mavs Go Over

We needed the Hornets and Mavs to score 193 points tonight. They scored 230.

The Hornets 127-103 victory in Game 2 of the series helped us even our playoff Free NBA Pick record back to 2-2, and our overall NBA Free Pick record to 42-22.

Thanks to countless buckets, including Chris Paul taking on Dirk Nowitzki for a lay-up, we're back up to .500 for the playoffs and hoping, oddly enough, to get back into regular-season form.

We tinkered with the numbers in the system a little bit prior to this game due to our concerns that, well, the last two Free NBA Pick losses were blowouts. We should be poised for a nice run with the updated stats added to the formula, so hop on and enjoy the ride.

One Playoff Pick Tonight

We have one Free NBA Pick tonight as we look to get back on track:

Dallas Mavericks/New Orleans Hornets OVER 193

Good luck!

Mavs and Nuggets Go Over

The Mavericks and Nuggets went over 217, giving us another Free NBA Pick victory.

Here are our overall records:

Overall Free NBA Pick Record: 32-15... 68%
Record in last 24: 18-6... 75%

Solid Free NBA Pick Tonight

Unfortunately, we had our first ever 0-2 day with our Free NBA Picks yesterday, but we can get it back with a very good looking play today.

Nuggets/Mavericks OVER 217

Our updated records:

Overall Free NBA Pick Record: 31-15... 67%
Record in last 23: 17-6... 74%

Good luck and let's get it back today!

Mavs and Kings Make it Seven Straight!

The Mavericks and Kings combined for 221 points tonight, a good 19 points above the over/under of 202.

The Mavs won the game 115 to 106, but there are more important numbers than the final score of the game. With the performance tonight, Jason Kidd's Mavs and Beno Udrih's Kings helped us win our seventh consecutive Free NBA Pick, improving our record to 21-9 on the year. For you math buffs out there, that's exactly 70% in the NBA this season.

If you haven't been following yet, what are you waiting for? We've proven ourselves as reliable and profitable, so make it your March resolution to start following Stock Lemon.

Mavs and Kings For Our Seventh Straight Win

Our Free NBA Picks have been absolutely on fire having won six straight, and we're leaping for our seventh consecutive NBA win tonight.

Dallas Mavericks/Sacramento Kings Over 202

Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs should get into a shootout with Brad Miller and the Kings tonight, and we love this over/under at just 202 points. The addition of Jason Kidd helps the Mavs push the ball up the court much faster than they have been, and the books haven't quite adjusted to their faster pace. Oh, and the Kings will score sometimes, too.

Our overall Free NBA Picks record is 20-9, which is about 69%, so make this pick with confidence. Good luck!

Raptors Cover Easily

Chris Bosh and the Raptors easily handled Vince Carter's Nets tonight, covering the -8 spread with a 109-91 victory. The Raptors triumph means yet another win for our Free NBA Picks, which are 16-9 in the last 25 games for a very solid 64% hit rate.

Even though the Raptors won by 18, it could have been much, much more if they didn't rest their key players with the game already sealed in the fourth quarter.

This turned out to be an easy win partly because the Raptors are better than the Nets and we knew it, but also partly because of Jason Kidd being traded--or at least thinking that he would be traded--to the Mavericks. As it turns out, he's not headed to Dallas just yet, but the teams were so close to striking a deal that the Nets didn't play their star point guard in this one.

Stay with us througout the week for more possible NBA plays , including bets on the NBA All-Star Game.

Celtics Cover Again Without Garnett

Once again without Kevin Garnett (although they did have Ray Allen), the Celtics covered the spread with a win over the Mavericks tonight. The win gives the NBA Free Picks a record of 8-2 in the last ten, an exceptional 80%.

Keep checking back for more winnings picks--absolutely free.

Free NBA Pick

The last time the computer liked the Celtics, even without Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, they crushed the Heat. Well, the computer likes the Celtics again tonight, even if they're without two of their biggest stars.

Boston Celtics +1 1/2 over the Dallas Mavericks

The Mavericks are also short-handed, as Devin Harris is sidelined for 2-3 weeks and Jerry Stackhouse missed their last game. Solid value in tonight's play.

The Free NBA Picks have hit seven of their last nine, so these things are still hot.

Fun with Super Bowl Prop Bets

American Idol's Jordin Sparks will be singing the National Anthem at Super Bowll XLII in her native Glendale, Arizona on February 3rd, and of course, Bodog allows you to bet the over/under on the length of her Star Spangled Banner.

The over/under is set at 1 minute and 42 seconds, and we're taking the under, although it was a close call.

Last year, when Billy Joel drunk drove his way to Miami to sing the Anthem at Super Bowl XLI, a simple youtube sampling of his previous anthems revealed that he usually took about 10 seconds less to sing it than Bodog had anticipated. When the big game came, he took the mike and sure enough, was under by far. Easy money.

This year was a little more difficult. Jordin Sparks has three youtube offerings of previous National Anthems. We calculated the time it took for her to sing from the first note to the last, and all were very close to the 1 minute 42 second mark. Here's the breakdown:

Video 1: Dallas Mavericks at Phoenix Suns in Phoenix, Arizona, November 9, 2006

This is the shortest of the performances, clocking in at 1 minute and 39 seconds. She was Arizona Idol at the time, not yet American Idol, so maybe fame has added 3 seconds to her wind pipes.

Video 2: 2007 NBA Finals Game One: Cleveland Cavaliers at San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio, Texas, June 7, 2007

Being very generous towards the over, Jordin clocked in at exactly 1 minute and 42 seconds. If we were to time it exactly using a high tech device (aka a stopwatch), we think it would be slightly less.

Video 3: San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona, September 10, 2006

This was only a partial video, so we combined it with her more long-winded anthem at the NBA Finals and came up with a total of, you guessed it, 1 minute and 42 seconds. Again, we made sure to go from first note to last and maybe even a bit further, just to be sure.

In all, we have three videos averaging 1 minute and 41 seconds, with none going over 1 minute and 42 seconds. This is enough for us to put a decent sized wager on Jordin Sparks going under at the Super Bowl.