With no football games, it’s hard to gamble, so, thankfully, we can throw our money away on NBA games that can really go either way. But it’s entertaining, right? And, in short, that’s the main reason we gamble. We don’t do it to win or lose — we do it because it takes an otherwise boring chunk of the night and becomes very, very entertaining, even if the entertainment is accompanied with many hours of grief afterwards. Enjoy my picks. I’m the best.

Last Night: 2-1
On the Season: 43-41-1

Tonight’s Games:

Charlotte Bobcats (+11) @ Toronto Raptors: Picking Charlotte doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that I’m picking a winner. But the Raptors have struggled, and 11 points seems a bit high. Raptors win, ‘Cats cover.

Philadelphia 76′ers (+2) @ Atlanta Hawks: I hope the Hawks win. I always do when I make these picks. But they’ve beaten up on bad teams, they’ve won five straight, and when you’re an Atlanta fan, you know five straight is about three too many. The streak ends. Points are nice, but Sixers in an upset.

New York Knicks @ New Orleans Hornets (-15.5): It’s been a while since I’ve seen a spread this high and taken it. But we’ve all seen the Knicks, which should be enough said.

New Jersey Nets (+10) @ Detroit Pistons: Take the points.

Dallas Mavericks (+6) @ LA Lakers: Every time these two teams play, the game is close. Look for another OT thriller. Mavs win.

Toronto Raptors 120, Atlanta Hawks 127: The Hawks have won five straight games, and are now four games ahead of the Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference. With eight games left, and considering the teams trying to catch them, this one may be locked up. That said, this is the Hawks, who aren’t very good, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Indiana Pacers 77, Boston Celtics 92: Boston got its 60th win and tied the best ever turnaround in consecutive seasons in NBA history. Paul Pierce and 13 points, Kevin Garnett 20, and Ray Allen chipped in with 15 for the Celtics, who are just waiting to tear my hometown Hawks apart in the first round of the playoffs. There’s that part of me that wants to say, “Hey, we’ve got a chance.” But then there’s that other part of me, the logical, gambling part, that says ride the Celtics through.

New Orleans Hornets 106, Miami Heat 77: When the Heat traded for Shaq, they made a statement that they were going to win then, and then only. They’ve traded him away, lost D-Wade for the season, and here’s the result: A 13 win team that looks helpless from every angle you can look at. Chris Quinn led all scorers for the Heat again, dropping 18 points, but the rest of the team. . . well, not so great. When Chris Quinn has 18, and the rest of your team has 69 points combined, there’s a problem. David West and Tyson Chandler combined for 42 points for the Hornets.

Golden State Warriors 86, Dallas Mavericks 111: Return of Dirk! Return of Dirk! The MVP was back and, to be frank, was still a little pissed at last season’s first round collapse. Everyone’s favorite German had 18 points, and Jason Terry (31) and Josh Howard (28) helped the Mavs to victory. With the win, Dallas is seventh in the West, and has a two game lead over Golden State, who is one game back of Denver (who holds the eight spot — that was a lot of explanation).

With no football games, it’s hard to gamble, so, thankfully, we can throw our money away on NBA games that can really go either way. But it’s entertaining, right? And, in short, that’s the main reason we gamble. We don’t do it to win or lose — we do it because it takes an otherwise boring chunk of the night and becomes very, very entertaining, even if the entertainment is accompanied with many hours of grief afterwards. Enjoy my picks. I’m the best.

How I’m doing:

Last Night: 2-2
On the Season: 38-38-1
It seems I’m doing well not winning and not losing, doesn’t it?

Tonight’s Games:

Toronto Raptors (-2) @ Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks struggle against good teams, and though not great, the Raptors are solid. I hope I’m wrong — believe me — but I just don’t see it happening for Atlanta.

Indiana Pacers @ Boston Celtics (-10): The only way this doesn’t hit is if Paul, Ray and KG all go down, and Sam Cassell transfers back to LA. Otherwise, you’re in the clear.

Golden State Warriors (+6) @ Dallas Mavericks: This game is like the playoffs right now. And we know what happens when Golden State and Dallas meet in those type of games.

New Orleans Hornets (-11) @ Miami Heat: It’s rare in the NBA that you find a road team favored by double digits. It’s also rare in the NBA to find a roster that looks like Miami’s.

Cleveland Cavaliers (-2) @ Charlotte Bobcats: Hard not to bet on a team when they’re barely favored over the Bobcats, and they’ve got LeBron James.

Miami Heat 85, Indiana Pacers 105: If you look at Miami’s schedule the rest of the year, they’ve got one game where they may be favorites, when Memphis strolls into town April 11. Beyond that, they’ll probably be ‘dogs, and rightfully so. It’s hard to imagine how a team that won a championship two years ago, had one of the best big men and best young stars in the league, has come to this, but numbers don’t lie: 13 wins.

Toronto Raptors 104, Charlotte Bobcats 100: The win helped Toronto snag onto the sixth spot in the East, jumping the Sixers, which would ultimately help them avoid playing Detroit in the first round. Chris Bosh scored 32 points and grabbed eight boards, helping the Raptors get back on track.

Atlanta Hawks 116, Memphis Grizzlies 99: The Hawks are clinging to the eight-spot in the East, with the Nets breathing down their necks, and what better way to cling than playing the Knicks and Grizzlies in back-to-back games? That easy streak is about to end, though: Of their remaining eight games, five games come against Philadelphia (twice), Orlando, Boston, and Toronto.

Washington Wizards 87, Utah Jazz 129: The Jazz shot 59 percent from the floor, and nailed 15 three-pointers in their rout of the Wizards. Seven Jazz players scored in double figures, led by CJ Miles 29 point effort.

Denver Nuggets 117, Phoenix Suns 132: The Suns were down by 18 at the half, and trailed by as many as 22, but rallied on the back of Amare Stoudemire’s 41 point effort. ‘Melo and AI were a combined 16-37 from the field.

Dallas Mavericks 93, LA Clippers 86: Jason Kidd finally got something going on offense, scoring 27 points but only managed four assists. Dallas sits in the seven-spot of the West right now, gripping onto a one-game lead over the ninth-place Nuggets.

San Antonio Spurs 107, Orlando Magic 97: Jameer Nelso and Hedo Turkoglu both left early for the Magic, and the Spurs took advantage. Even without one of their sharpshooters, Orlando still managed seven threes and shot just over 40 percent beyond the arch. San Antonio won their fourth straight game, riding the heels of Tim Duncan’s 19 points nad 15 rebound effort.

New Orleans Hornets 114, Indiana Pacers 108: Chris Paul scored 31 points and had 14 assists, continuing on his ridiculous, MVP-like season. David West led all Hornets with 35 points on 14-24 shooting.

Atlanta Hawks 94, Chicago Bulls 103: How to lose what was once a close game: Score 14 points in the third quarter, as the Hawks did last night. Five players scored in double figures for the Bulls, led by Drew Gooden’s 31.

LA Clippers 90, Dallas Mavericks 103: With Dirk out and Jason Kidd not really doing much since he joined the Mavs, Josh Howard handled the load, leading the Mavericks with 32 points. An interesting stat: Since acquiring Jason Kidd from the Nets, the Mavs are 0-8 against teams that are above .500.

Charlotte Bobcats 106, Utah Jazz 128: The Bobcats looked good, oh, three weeks ago, putting together a nice little winning streak. Since then, not so great. Losing by 20 and giving up 128 also falls under that not-so-great part.

Washington Wizards 82, Portland Trail Blazers 102: Brandon Roy went down after one quarter of play, but the rest of the Trail Blazers picked up the pace. Martell Webster had 23, Travis Outlaw 20, and Jarrett Jack (17) and Channing Frye (10) contributed off the bench for the W. Caron Butler had 19 points for the Wizards.

With no football games, it’s hard to gamble, so, thankfully, we can throw our money away on NBA games that can really go either way. But it’s entertaining, right? And, in short, that’s the main reason we gamble. We don’t do it to win or lose — we do it because it takes an otherwise boring chunk of the night and becomes very, very entertaining, even if the entertainment is accompanied with many hours of grief afterwards. Enjoy my picks. I’m the best.

Last Night: 4-3
On the Season: 29-31-1

Tonight’s Games:

New Orleans Hornets (-5) @ Indiana Pacers: Every time I bet the Hornets, I lose. Likewise with when I bet against ‘em. So you should probably do the opposite here, but I’m saying take New Orleans.

San Antonio Spurs (PICK) @ Orlando Magic: The Magic are best at bombing threes, and the Spurs are best at buckling down and playing defense. Even if it’s dirty, Bruce Bowen style. That said, roll Spurs.

LA Clippers @ Dallas Mavericks (-11): The spread’s a bit high for not having Dirk, but it’s the Clippers. Go with it.

Atlanta Hawks (+4) @ Chicago Bulls: Hawks are suddenly winning again. Let’s see if they can keep the streak alive on the road, where they notoriously suck.

Charlotte Bobcats @ Utah Jazz (-13): Are you gonna bet the Bobcats on the road? Me neither.

Washington Wizards (+1) @ Portland Trail Blazers: Ever since I lost about 10 straight bets on the Blazers, I don’t bet ‘em anymore. So just take Washington. Trust the man who’s gone in debt over going the other way.

Lost in March Madness, I’ve definitely forgotten the NBA is going on. But it is, and I’ve neglected it long enough. Here’s some scores from last night.

San Antonio Spurs 88, Dallas Mavericks 81: Watching the Mavs recently, I’ve gotta ask: Was it that New Jersey had little talent around Jason Kidd, and that’s why he wasn’t performing, or could it possible that Jason Kidd just isn’t that great anymore? Since he’s come to Dallas, he’s yet to dazzle, the Mavs have lost seven of the 17 he’s played in, and when they’ve won, I’m not sure you can say they’ve won because of his performance. Things didn’t get any better on Easter Sunday, as Dirk went down, and is expected to miss at least two weeks. Couple that with the fact that the Mavs are seventh in the West right now, and Denver is only two games back, and you’ve got yourself a Mark Cuban crisis.

Denver Nuggets 109, Toronto Raptors 100: The Raptors have Bosh back, and he’s helped the offense, but the team is still struggling. AI and ‘Melo combined for 69 points for the surging Nuggets, who are trying their best to make a playoff push.

Detroit Pistons 83, Washington Wizards 85: It’ll be interesting to see how the Wizards react to the return of Agent Zero, who is set to come back soon. They’ve played great without him, and if things don’t go smooth immediately, you’ll start to hear some grumbling in Washington that they’re better off without Arenas.

Golden State Warriors 115, LA Lakers 111: Kobe Bryant had 36 points, but it took him 30 shots to get there. Golden State distributed the ball pretty evenly, landing four players in double digits, lead by Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson’s 31.

Detroit Pistons 136, Denver Nuggets 120: The Nuggets have scored 298 points in their last two games, and they’ve only managed one win in the two. They scored 120 in this game, but there was no defense there: The Pistons shot 60 percent from the field, as well as 60 percent from beyond the arch, with seven Detroit players in double digits. ‘Melo and AI combined for 47 points in the losing effort.

Miami Heat 112, Milwaukee Bucks 106: It was Miami’s first win in the month of March, and possibly their last. Outside of their game against New York on the 27th, the rest of the schedule is pretty tough.

New Jersey Nets 96, Chicago Bulls 112: The Nets scored eight points in the second quarter. EIGHT. If that’s not an indication of how the game ended, well, then you haven’t seen much basketball. The only thing that surprises me is only a 16 point win when your opponent had an EIGHT point quarter.

Los Angeles Lakers 102, Dallas Mavericks 100: The Lakers snapped the Mavs five game winning streak, riding the heels of Kobe Bryant’s 29 point oeffort. Jason Kidd had one point and seven assists, proving just how valuable he is to this team.

Boston Celtics 94, Houston Rockets 74: Not to take anything away from the Rockets, but in their run, they hadn’t played a team of this caliber. Twenty-two wins is impressive, don’t get me wrong; but losing by 20 at home to end the streak is a little deflating. The Rockets leading scorer was Luis Scola with 15 points, and T-Mac only managed eight points on 4/11 shooting. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett combined for 42 points in the win.

Phoenix Suns 111, Portland Trail Blazers 98: Six Suns players scored double digits, and outside of LaMarcus Aldridge’s 31 points, no one on the Blazers decided to show up.

With no football games, it’s hard to gamble, so, thankfully, we can throw our money away on NBA games that can really go either way. But it’s entertaining, right? And, in short, that’s the main reason we gamble. We don’t do it to win or lose — we do it because it takes an otherwise boring chunk of the night and becomes very, very entertaining, even if the entertainment is accompanied with many hours of grief afterwards. Enjoy my picks. I’m the best.

Last night: 3-5
On the season: 16-21-1

Tonight’s games:

Denver Nuggets @ Detroit (-6): I want to pick the Nuggets, but based on my recent success, I’m going opposite. Take the Pistons.

Miami @ Milwaukee (-5): It’s a bad NBA season when every game, you say, “Wow, I don’t want to bet on either of those teams.” This is one of those, but take the Bucks.

New Jersey Nets @ Chicago (+6): Six points at home. Why not?

LA Lakers (+5) @ Dallas Mavericks: Last time these two played in Dallas, the Lakers won in OT. So I’ll take five points now and feel pretty safe about it.

Boston Celtics (-1) @ Houston Rockets: I just want to say I was the one that called the end of the infamous streak.

Golden State Warriors (-1) @ Sacramento Kings: Eh. I like the Warriors.

Phoenix Suns (-3) @ Portland Trail Blazers: If you’ve kept up, you know every time I bet the Blazers I lose. Let’s hope every time I bet against them isn’t a similar outcome.

Los Angeles Lakers 92, Houston Rockets 104: The Rockets have now won 22 straight, and the once pipedream-ish 33 is suddenly in sight. Kobe Bryant was only able to score 24 points on 33 shots against the stingy Houston D, and Rafer Alston took care of the rest, dropping 31 on LA to help keep the streak alive. Houston has Boston tonight, and if they get by that game they’ll have three straight on the road, all against team over .500 and competing for the playoffs. It’ll be a daunting task to get to 34, but I wouldn’t put much past them at this point.

New Orleans Hornets 84, Detroit Pistons 105: It’s not often you see a good Eastern Conference team rip a good Western Conference team, but such was the case on Sunday in Detroit. The Pistons were 14-21 from beyond the arch, led by Jarvis Hayes’ 7-8 effort from downtown, finishing with 29 points.

Charlotte Bobcats 91, Cleveland Cavaliers 98: BronBron had 33 points and 10 assists, and also grabbed seven boards in a winning effort. Charlotte, who looked like they were getting hot at one point a couple of weeks back, were led by J-Rich’s 33.

Dallas Mavericks 98, Miami Heat 73: Say hello to the first pick, Miami. Quesiton: Who do they draft? Do you take Beasley when you’ve already got two proven scorers? Whoever they take, they need help: The Heat shot less than 25 percent from beyond the arch, and only shot 40 percent from the field.

Atlanta Hawks 109, New York Knicks 98: When in doubt, play New York. With how badly the Hawks have been struggling, two of their last five wins have come against the dreadful Knicks. Joe Johnson scored 28, Marvin Williams 25, and Josh Childress 22. With the win, the Hawks have moved into a tie for eighth place in the Eastern Conference, where teams are just breaking their necks to try and not get into the playoffs.

Seattle Supersonics 118, Denver Nuggets 168: This isn’t a typo. The Nuggets scored 168 points, the highest of any team this season. It’s nice when a team’s able to get five players in double digit scoring; it’s even nicer when they get eight, as the Nuggets did last night, led by Melo’s 28.

Toronto Raptors 100, Sacramento Kings 106: What started out as “a few games,” has suddenly turned into nine straight games that Raptors All Star Chris Bosh has been gone. The Raptors have struggled, and are counting down the time until their star returns. Toronto is now 2-7 without Bosh.