Here’s the dunk alluded to in the earlier post. It was the best dunk of the night, and it scored a 40-something, much to the disappoval of the fans. You won in my book, Rudy!

The latest Power Rankings are out, and since I’m too lazy to do one myself, I’ll just link you to theirs. A couple of notes:

• The Celtics are back to No. 1. Yay. I just love the Celtics, with overglorified players like KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Please, LA or Cleveland, please beat them in the playoffs.
• The Nuggets are No. 6. How is it that one good point guard can change a team around so much? No AI, insert Chauncey, and this team is rolling.
• At 23-19, the Heat are No. 10. I know they’ve been surging, but c’mon. No. 10?
• In the same conference and same division, and three games up on the Heat, the Hawks are No. 11. This is the power Dwyane Wade has on a team.
• Beware the 76′ers, who sit at No. 12. After their terrible start, they’ve come on strong and are looking like the playoff threat they were last year.
• At No. 30, is there really any hope for the Kings? They don’t have the worst record, at least, which belongs to No. 26, the 9-35 Thunder.

I bet compulsively on the NFL and college, so I figure why not grow an addiction to the NBA. I’m going to pick three or four games a night, with no real knowledge. Maybe I’ll get lucky. Here we go.

Hawks @ Celtics (-10): Just look at their games in Boston last year. That’s all you need to know.

Blazers (+1.5) @ Heat: Take the points in the game Oden returns in.

Jazz (-4) @ Wizards: Washington stinks.

LA Lakers @ Hornets (-1): One point at home? Take it. They’re solid in New Orleans.

Dallas Mavericks 105, Phoenix Suns 98: The Suns would have to do a lot to blow their lead and miss the playoffs, but if such an event did occur there would be a lot of people pointing to this game as the reason they’re not in. The Suns held a 12 point lead heading into the fourth, but only managed nine points the entire quarter, therein losing the game. Even in victory, I’ll hate on Jason Kidd, and how little he contributes to this team: In 38 minutes of action, he had eight points and seven assists.

Golden State Warriors 96, New Orleans Hornets 108: Golden State is doing their best to survive and push their way into the playoffs, but the gas tank is on E, and the car is starting to sputter. Monta Ellis had 35 points, but Baron Davis only came up with 17 and Stephen Jackson fell flat with only six points on 3/11 shooting. New Orleans holds a 1 1/2 game lead over the San Antonio Spurs.

San Antonio Spurs 72, Portland Trail Blazers 65: Tim Duncan provided most of the offense with 27 points, and the rest of the Spurs decided they’d play lights out defense and hold their opponent under 70. Brandon Roy led all Blazers players with 18 points.

Denver Nuggets 147, Seattle Seahawks 151: Like I said about Phoenix: If Denver doesn’t make the playoffs, this is the game they’ll point to. Kevin Durant dropped 37 points, had nine rebounds and eight assists, and Denver dropped one to the second-worst team in the NBA. Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson combined for 64 points for the Nuggets.

Houston Rockets 95, Portland Trail Blazers 86: Tracy McGrady scored 35 points, 26 of which came in the second half, helping Houston push its way to victory against the Trail Blazers. “There’s going to be a team that wins 50 games and doesn’t make the playoffs,” he said. “So it’s a battle out there. I love it.” Houston has a four game lead over the Nuggets, who currently hold the final eighth spot. Houston plays Seattle twice and the Clippers twice, giving them arguably the easiest schedule of teams aiming for the playoffs. Their remaining three games are at Denver, at Utah, and Phoenix at home.

LA Clippers 98, Sacramento Kings 110: Can someone please get Elton Brand out of LA? Or at least send him to that other team in LA? The Clippers lost again, will again have a lotto pick this summer, and again will be bad next year, barring some kind of miraculous turnaround/huge pickup in free agency. The Kings, who are slowly approaching .500 ball, were led by Kevin Martin’s 26 points.

Chicago Bulls 101, Cleveland Cavaliers 98: LBJ had 33 points for the Cavs, but the rest of Cleveland didn’t do much to show up. Since the Cavs acquired Ben Wallace in the trade, they’re only 10-10, and only three of those wins are against current playoff teams.

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: 3-2
On the Season: 41-40-1
How I feel: Finally over .500

Tonight’s Spreads:

Chicago Bulls @ Cleveland Cavaliers (-7): I’m real tempted to take the Bulls here, given that they rested last night and the Cavs were on the road in a close one, but then reality sets in: Chicago stinks, despite what we thought at the beginning of the year, and Cleveland’s pretty good. At covering, too.

LA Clippers @ Sacramento Kings (-8): Tonight feels like a night of picking the home teams.

Houston Rockets (-5) @ Portland Trail Blazers: Check that statement. Go with the Rockets.

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.

Philadelphia 76′ers 95, Boston Celtics 90: It was a stunning home loss, one I bet on, one I loss on, and I can’t say I’m too happy about the suddenly surging Sixers. Andre Iguodala led all Sixers with 28 points, followed by Andre Miller’s 20 and rookie Thaddeus Young’s 16. The win moved Philadelphia into sixth place in the East, and did nothing to hurt the standing of the first place Celtics.

Phoenix Suns 105, Detroit Pistons 100: Is it bad when you bet so much you don’t know which team you took? I’m at work, and can’t check my Sportsbook account, but I’m thinking I got Phoenix at +3. Let’s hope, anyway. Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 36. Steve Nash had nine assists.

Milwaukee Bucks 73, Miami Heat 78: It’s quite possibly Miami’s last win of the season. Really. The heat had five scorers in double digits — probably also a last — led by Chris Quinn’s 24. When Chris Quinn is your best player, well, then, you’re in trouble.

New Jersey Nets 106, New York Knicks 91: It’s the old adage: Don’t bet on the Knicks. I didn’t. I won. Ironically, with the Nets win, they’re closer to the playoffs, while in Dallas, with their loss, they find themselves falling out of the playoffs. Guess that Jason Kidd trade paid off after all.

Denver Nuggets 120, Memphis Grizzlies 106: The Nuggets have now won three straight, and just for the record, they’ve scored 100 points or more in their last 12 games.

Portland Trail Blazers 94, Seattle Supersonics 97: All five Seattle starters had double digit scoring efforts, and Kevin Durant put in 23 points on a rare good shooting night (9-13). Martell Webster had 23 points for the struggling Trail Blazers.

LA Lakers 123, Golden State Warriors 119: It took overtime, but like I said: Jump on Kobe’s boat when he’s coming off a loss. He had 30 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists, leading the Lakers to victory.

I’ll publish stuff like Greg Oden walking around a grocery store. It’s a slow day, and there’s not much else to post, but beyond that, let’s be real: If a guy is fit to push a 10 pound cart full of deli meats and bread around the store, he’s clearly ready to guard Shaq in a basketball game.

No, really. Maybe not other centers, but Shaq, for real.

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.

On The Season: 25-28-1 Against The Spread

Philadelphia 76′ers @ Boston Celtics (-10): Take this one. Take it all day. Boston wins by a hundred.

New Jersey Nets (+2) @ New York Knicks: Rule of betting basketball: Don’t bet on the Knicks. It’s won me money for the most part, so I’m sticking to it.

Milwaukee Bucks(+1) @ Miami Heat: That rule mentioned above, it’s starting to apply to the Heat. When the two teams play together, it’ll be an interesting coin flip.

Phoenix Suns @ Detroit Pistons(-3): Detroit plays defense. Phoenix is still trying to figure that one out. And though the team is doing much better with Shaq now, I like the Pistons at home.

Denver Nuggets (-7) @ Memphis Grizzlies: Denver’s been on a tear, and AI and ‘Melo are finally starting to click together. Memphis, meanwhile, is heading for the lottery, and wondering where yet another year has gone.

Sacramento Kings @ Houston Rockets (-7): Let’s start another streak, people. This team was easy money, and we need it to get back that way.

Portland Trail Blazers @ Seattle Supersonics (+9): There’s not a team I’ve been more burnt by than the Trail Blazers. They’re a tempting team to pick, but when I ride ‘em I die with ‘em. Seattle’s no stellar team, but I’ll take the eight at home and run with it.

Los Angeles Lakers (-2) @ Golden State: Eh. Probably a toss up. But I like Kobe after losing and struggling the night before.