NBA Finals Continue Tonight

Game 2 of the NBA Finals is tonight, and our Free NBA Picks are ready to go.

Los Angeles Lakers -1 over the Boston Celtics

The Celtics have been tough at home, but they are beatable, and that will be the case tonight. Forget about Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, and Pau Gasol. Forget about Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce. The key match-up isn't between the players--it's between the coaches.

Phil Jackson has been in this situation before, and sooner rather than later, Doc Rivers will coach the Celtics right out of a ring. Paul Pierce will have to fake more than one injury in Game 2 if the C's plan on taking a two game advantage in the series. (UPDATE: We thought it was obvious that we were joking around about Paul Pierce's injury after Phil Jackson questioned its legitimacy. Most of our readers have thick enough skin not to get too up in arms about a small comment such as this, and we thank you for that, readers. Now let's put the drama aside and win some cash!)

Lakers Win... Big!

Our Free NBA Picks indicated that the Lakers should beat the Spurs by at least six points last night, and as always, we put our faith in our system. We just didn't think it would be that easy.

The Lake Show beat up on the defending champs 101-71 in a blowout last night, and are now up 2-0 in the series and just two more wins away from a return to the NBA Finals.

Lamar Odom (seen above dunking on an exasperated Tim Duncan) had a huge night, as Pau Gasol (also looking sort of exasperated in the above photo) and Kobe Bryant were content to let Odom take the reigns, although Kobe still got his points.

The Lakers cover gives our Free NBA Picks a record of 8-1 in the last nine, and 11-3 in the last 14. Overall they are just 14-12 in the playoffs, but clearly have caught fire in the last week or two, as they always seem to. We put those records in yellow, since the color of lemons as well as those Laker jerseys also happens to be the color of money. Well, not really, but figuratively at least.

Remember to keep checking back throughout the weekend and beyond for more absolutely free picks.

Two Free NBA Picks Wednesday

We've hit a bit of a rough patch with our Free NBA Playoff Picks, and we're a little confused as to why. We're hesistant to tinker with the system at the moment, because according to our calculations, the current formula should be producing winners at the 65-70 percent clip we have become accustomed to.

It is likely that this current string of bad luck is nothing more than that--bad luck. We've missed three covers by one point in the last week, and think the basketball will start bouncing our way again in a matter of time. Like right now.

Even with this mini-losing streak, our system shows two plays with solid value tonight, and we're going to continue to weather the storm with confidence that our system will prevail as it has so many times in the past.

Utah Jazz +7 over the Los Angeles Lakers

Detroit Pistons/Orlando Magic UNDER 187

Carlos Boozer and the Jazz should close the gap on Lamar Odom's Lakers, and if nothing else, keep it within seven. Out East, we expect a low scoring game, and plenty of that defense seen above by Rasheed Wallace on Hedo Turkoglu.

Good luck and let's get this thing back on track!