Thursday's NBA Betting Picks – Who's Kidding Who in Brooklyn?

Hoop Hopes – Ricky Rothstein makes his picks for tonight’s NBA action!

LA Clippers at Brooklyn
Don’t look now, but could Brooklyn be getting its game together? The Nets have won two straight. They have Deron Williams and Brook Lopez back in the lineup, and Paul Pierce on his way. The two wins were against Milwaukee and Boston, neither exactly the cream of the League, but tonight the Nets get to measure themselves against one of the NBA’s best in the LA Clippers.

The game in Brooklyn is the fourth of a five game Eastern road trip for the Clippers which has gone pretty well for them, not least Doc Rivers’ return to Boston last night, where the Clippers beat the Celtics 96-88. The Clippers are a three-point favorite at Brooklyn tonight, which makes sense given the gulf in talent between the teams and their respective records.

But Deron Williams made a real difference for Brooklyn when he returned and, despite the recent bad publicity, Jason Kidd may be coming into his own as a coach. The argument with Lawrence Frank established Kidd’s authority, and the spilled drink scandal showed the Nets that Kidd is a competitor, willing to take one for the team if needs be. The Clippers can splutter a little, having good days and bad days and they’re coming off a game last night. The Nets are a good bet with the points as a home court dog.
Hoop Hope 1 |Brooklyn +3.0

Houston at Portland
How about those Portland Trailblazers? Portland is the team that came from nowhere to a best-in-the-West 18-4 record straight-up, which is 16-6 against the spread. The Blazers have an intimidating home court, a star power forward in LaMarcus Aldridge and a thirst to prove wrong the doubters who think Portland is the NBA’s answer to the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

However. Tonight Portland hosts the Houston Rockets, one of only two teams to have beaten the Blazers in Portland. Houston stomped Golden State and Orlando in its last two games and now plans to do the same to Portland. Laying points with the Rockets is hard to resist. Houston is the pick.
Hoop Hope 2 |Houston +3.0

Follow Ricky Rothstein’s Hoop Hopes every night – he’s 26-17-0 for the season so far!