NBA Basketball on TNT: Free NBA Picks Against the Spread

Here are my NBA previews and picks for Thursday Night’s action on TNT. Cleveland has an easy one against Chicago, or do they? LA plays a tough Denver team, but in the 2nd night of a back to back. Will Denver be able to step up? We’ll see…

Cleveland Cavaliers @ Chicago Bulls (4-8: 8:00 PM ET – TNT): On the surface, this one seems easy. But there’s no line history, and that’s probably because the books are scared of what I think is happening and that’s a resting LeBron. Maybe he plays, but I don’t think he’ll play the whole game, and with nothing much to lose for the Cavs, and the Bulls looking that 8th playoff seed right in the eye – yeah, I like Chicago to win this one. It will be interesting to see what the line is, but Chicago -5 or less and I like them, and I don’t think the books will even go that high. Especially with Lebron’s risk of playing up in the air. If they did go Chicago -5 and everyone jumped on the Cavs, they’d lose some solid money if The King played.

LA Lakers (+2) @ Denver Nuggets (4-8: 10:30 PM ET – TNT): Two days ago, the Oklahoma Thunder took it on the chin, from the refs. After an awesome finish and a brutal overtime, Durant got fouled shooting a 3 to win the game with a second left. Blatant foul, no doubt in anyone’s mind, no ref saw it. No worries, all it did was cost them a few seeds in the playoff race. Who took advantage of that? The Nuggets, last night, who played Oklahoma – they caught up with the Thunder as Oklahoma tired down the stretch, and now the Thunder sit in the 8 spot. But will the Lakers be able to capitalize on the 2nd game of a back to back from Denver? Yeah, I think so. I’m taking LA to win tonight in Denver. LA is rested, the Nuggets are tired – sounds like an easy one to me.