Saturday, May 18, 2024

Betting, Fantasy Basketball, Featured

NBA Pick ‘Em Weekly 6: Week 2

An odd Week 1 of the NBA season has led to an odd Week 2 of NBA Pick ‘Em Weekly 6. Early in the season, it’s not unusual for it to be difficult to determine how a team might perform. At most, teams have played two or three games. On top of that, some things happened in the NBA last week that simply should not happen. All things considered, I’m pretty happy to have gone 4 of 6 on my picks in Week 1. It definitely could have been a lot worse. Now, I’ll try to decipher the implications of Week 1 and turn them into winning picks for Week 2 of the NBA season.

Bucks/Heat and Magic/Thunder

I really like this Miami Heat team. I fully expect to sound like a broken record about it by the end of the season. They have so much upside and young future stars that will continue to develop. They are my pick to come out of the East this season. That said, the Bucks just took a 20 point beating from a New York Knicks team whose best regular-season record in the past five years was .378. For Milwaukee, this is a loss that never should have happened and I expect them to come out swinging.

If someone could explain to me how the Orland Magic are one of only four undefeated teams in the NBA, that would be great. I’m going with OKC in this NBA Pick ‘EmWeekly 6 matchup game because the Magic have beaten two teams (the Heat once and the Wizards twice) where the matches could have gone either way. They’re not going to go undefeated forever and I think OKC is the team that is cohesive enough to hand the Magic their first ‘L’.

Bucks/Heat and Trail Blazers/Clippers

In a back-to-back situation between two clearly elite teams, I’m always going to give the edge to the team with better coaching. Seeing a team on a back-to-back is reminiscent of paying a team in a 7-game series. The coach who is best at making adjustments has the edge. In this case, Eric Spoelstra is a clear choice for this NBA pick.

Although the Clippers and Trail Blazers have the same season record of 2-1 as this article is written, one of those teams didn’t lose a game by 51 points in Week 1. This could go either way. The Clippers could react the way I expect the Bucks to and come out and dominate a game. Alternately, maybe the Clipper’s prospects are still based on a rather thin facade of talent san chemistry for a second consecutive year. I’m giving this game to the Blazers because Damian Lillard hasn’t had a big game yet on the season and I think he’ll take more than a little pleasure in turning it on against the team that heckled him in the Bubble last season.

Bulls/Wizards and 76ers/ Magic

In another reminder of the oddness of Week 1 of the NBA, either the Bulls or the Wizards will come away from their game tonight with the first win of the season under their belts. It would be super useful to have the results of this game before making my pick on their New Year’s Eve matchup because I think they’ll split their games. For now, I’m going to take the Wizards in what amounts to a coin flip. When it comes time to make your pick for this game, I’d suggesting taking whoever loses the matchup tonight.

The 76ers look to me like they will continue to be a team with too much talent and not enough sense on their roster. That said, I think they simply out talent the Magic in this matchup.

Let’s just hope Week 2 and beyond isn’t quite as off as Week 1 was. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long season of picks.

See you next week!

Follow me on Twitter @auxiliarythings as I dive head-first into my first season of fantasy basketball. I’m in my first ever fantasy basketball league with fellow rookie fantasy basketball writer Parker Ainsworth. Follow him here at Belly Up Fantasy sports as he chronicles his rookie year. Check out my podcast @HCHunnies where Taylor and I will also be discussing our fantasy seasons. And of course, the Belly Up Sports team has you covered for all your general NBA entertainment and information.