NBA Wednesday on ESPN: Free NBA Picks

There are a couple games that really interest me tonight – one is for the intriguing match-up between Eastern and Western powers, and the other is the amount of assists that will be passed out of the hands of Deron Williams tonight when the Jazz host the Golden State Warriors. Oh yeah, and the D-Leaguers teaming up with Steph Curry to put some highlights together is always entertaining. Here’s my take…

LA Lakers (+1) @ Atlanta Hawks (3-31: 7:00 PM ET): The entire LA crew is healthy again, and Pau Gasol will end up doing work against the Hawks front line. Tell me whom in Atlanta is going to guard Pau? If “nobody” was your answer than you’re on to something. Atlanta is a very good team, no doubt about it, but even with Bynum out, the Lakers are a really tough match-up for the Hawks. They’ve won 3 of their last 4 against the Hawks, and with people starting to question if the Lakers’ recent 1-2 three game stretch is any indication of their upcoming struggles, I have a feeling that the Lake-show will be out to prove something. I’ll take them in a double digit win.

Golden State Warriors (+13) @ Utah Jazz (3-31: 7:00 PM ET – ESPN): About this time last season, Deron Williams busted out 20 assists as Utah ousted in the Warriors. This year he’s averaging around 12-13 dimes per game against Golden State. I think he goes for about 15-20 tonight as Utah gets a win over Golden State. But the Warriors have played well lately with their D-Leaguers playing huge. I think they give Utah a run tonight and continue their hot run against the spread to cover despite a likely big game by the Jazz stars.