NBA Free Premium Play 05/04: Brooklyn Nets @ Miami Heat

Brooklyn  at Miami

NBA - 737 Brooklyn Nets @ 738 Miami Heat Play #1 We’ve lost w/ the Under in the last game of this series, but I’m back again playing the Under in tonight’s contest as the circumstances really didn’t change for this game. As usual, last game was a slow paced affair w/ Pace Factor of 82.7 and obviously, both teams were incredible efficient on the offensive end! I’ve watched once again the game today and I couldn’t stop noticed the incredible number of times that both teams hit some tough contested jumpers… I’ve just checked NBA.com/stats… MIA went 23-37 FG (62.2%!!!) in contested shots and even the Nets shot 27-59 FG (45.8%!) in those shots! Naturally, we can expect a bit of regression from both teams for tonight and therefore, I’m playing the Under in here as my Single Dime Play! Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 737/738 Under 189 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA Free Premium Plays 04/25: Toronto Raptors @ Brooklyn Nets

Toronto  at Brooklyn

NBA - 739 Toronto Raptors @ 740 Brooklyn Nets ***FREE Premium Plays*** The first two games of this series were super strange because we are dealing with two great shooting/spot up offensive teams that completely struggled in both games to hit outside shots. I took TOR & OVER in G2 and we’ve seen some interesting things from TOR: DeRozan bounced back pretty well from a terrible G1 and the Raptors frontcourt kept dominating down low and on the glass. However, their problems w/ TO’s is real vs. this aggressive Nets’ defense! DeRozan & Valanciunas aren’t particular good ball handlers and they are prone to commit TO’s when pressured – something that the Nets will keep doing throughout this series. The biggest “anomaly” for the Nets in the first 2 games was their complete inability to hit outside shots – 11-48 from 3pts land (just 23% mark!)! Note that most of those misses were wide open shots! Sooner or later, those shots will cash for them and playing at home for them has been a good sign: BKN Reg. Season 3pts% Road: ranked #21 w/ 34.8% BKN Reg. Season 3pts% Home: ranked #2 w/ 39.1% For this contest, I expect the Nets to answer pretty well to the fact that they are playing at home. My fair line for this contest is BKN-8/-9 points & 195 points as both teams will start hitting outside shots. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 739/740 Over 190.5 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 740 Brooklyn Nets (-5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA Free Premium Play 04/19: Brooklyn Nets @ Toronto Raptors

Brooklyn  at Toronto

NBA - 701 Brooklyn Nets @ 702 Toronto Raptors ***FREE Premium Play*** This should be a fun series to watch w/ plenty of tight games and (hopefully) w/ game 6 and/or game 7 on the horizon. For the first contest I really think that we have some edge w/ the Under as my fair line in here is 190/192 points. Note that in this series, we will deal w/ half court battle. In the regular season, TOR was ranked #23 in Pace Factor & BKN = ranked #25! 3 of the 4 H2H’s games between these two teams were slow paced contests, so we can expect this trend to keep going in this series. BKN’s offense will have some problems vs. TOR’s underrated defense! TOR is a top 10 team in not committing TO’s (ranked #9 in the regular season) and this could be a problem for a BKN defense that is great in creating TO’s and convert those TO’s w/ a pretty decent transition offense. Also, Amir Johnson & Patrick Patterson are quick and mobile “bigs”, so BKN’s undersized lineup won’t have the usual edge that they are used to have vs. traditional frontcourt units. On the other side, this Raptors team doesn’t have much experience @ playoffs, and this first contest could be a tough mental spot for them. Note that we are dealing w/ a team that takes a ton of mid range jumpers… BKN will have S. Livingston back and also K. Garnett could play some significant minutes as well – an obvious boost for their defense! The correlation of all these factors = Single Dime Play w/ Under! Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 701/702 Under 194 @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline

NBA Free Premium Play 04/05: Brooklyn Nets @ Philadelphia 76ers

Brooklyn  at Philadelphia

NBA - 805 Brooklyn Nets @ 806 Philadelphia 76ers Play #4 My fair line for this contest is 212 points and actually, this play was close to be a Top Play. The Nets will play tonight their 4th game in 5days but all the previous 3 contests were @NY area and they are coming from an easy win vs. DET where 12 BKN players logged some time, so this isn’t a dreadful “physical” spot for them! The good news is that BKN’ offense is really killing vs. bad defensive teams.  They tend to play @ slow pace but they can push the pace vs. up tempo teams like PHI. Note that they scored 20 fast break points vs. PHX, 14 vs. DAL, 19 vs. MIN or 15 vs. HOU! In this potential run and gun game vs. bad PHI defense, I expect them to easily score +108 points… In the first 3 H2H’s games, they scored 130, 120 and 108 points! Obviously, the key question for this contest is related w/ PHI offense vs. BKN defense. First of all, we are dealing w/ a confident PHI team that has won 2 of their L4 games. BKN isn’t a great shot blocking team, so I expect 76ers to have some decent points at the rim. Also, BKN’s backcourt is slow footed and also, we can expect PHI to score some easy transition points and that’s why I’m taking the Over in here! Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 805/806 Over 208 @ -110 / 1.91 on 5 Dimes

NBA Free Premium Plays 03/15: Brooklyn Nets @ Washington Wizards

Brooklyn  at Washington

NBA - 503 Brooklyn Nets @ 504 Washington Wizards ***FREE Premium Plays*** This is a tough spot for the Wizards… last night they had a tough battle vs. ORL, the game went to OT and all WAS’s starters logged at least 41 minutes! I had a play w/ ORL in that game because the Wizards without Nene are basically a jump shooting with little presence down low. In 53 minutes of action, the Wizards scored only 32 points in the paint! Obviously, they had some good offensive perimeter numbers like shooting 10-23 from 3pts, but they have faced ORL’s poor perimeter D as well. BKN’s defense has been great as of late especially on the perimeter. They don’t have the proper size to protect the rim and are constantly crushed on the boards. However they are aggressive vs. ball handlers, creating an absurd number of TO’s and this Wizards’ team fits perfectly well on what they do defensively. WAS’ lack of inside scoring tonight will be the X factor! BKN is allowing just 33.8% from 3pts in L10 games – ranked #5 in the league during this stretch! I expect BKN’s defense to control the perimeter tonight vs. a tired WAS team. However, the same thing can be said on the other end! Like WAS, the Nets don’t have any considerable inside game – they are scoring just 37 pts in the paint in L8 games! They also attempts a ton of outside jumpers and the Wizards’ are actually allowing just 31.8% 3pts in L10 games – ranked #4 in the league! I expect this contest to be a relatively low scoring game. This BKN-3 line would be fair if both teams were in similar physical spots but this is not the case in here and so, I think that the Nets will take advantage of it. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 503 Brooklyn Nets (-3) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 503/504 Under 197 @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline

NBA Free Premium Play 03/05: Memphis Grizzlies @ Brooklyn Nets

Memphis  at Brooklyn

NBA - 707 Memphis Grizzlies @ 708 Brooklyn Nets ***FREE Premium Play*** BKN was able to defeat the Bulls in the last game mostly via creating TO’s... note that their FG% was about the same as CHI and obviously, CHI completely outrebounded them by having 57% reb/rate%! BKN took advantage of CHI’s awful physical spot while the Bulls really couldn’t explore the matchup between Boozer vs. P. Pierce. With Pierce being the “PF” of this Nets starting lineup, it will be fun to watch him trying to guard Zach Randolph…good luck with that! MEM is one of the best teams in the league right now…Conley is coming from b2b solid performances - looking 100% healthy to me! The huge edge that MEM will have on the glass & down low (they scored 62 points in the paint against WAS in the last game) will be too much IMO for this Nets team and therefore, I’m taking MEM in here as my Single Dime Play. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 707 Memphis Grizzlies (-2) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA Free Premium Play 02/09: New Orleans Pelicans @ Brooklyn Nets

New Orleans  at Brooklyn

NBA - 805 New Orleans Pelicans @ 806 Brooklyn Nets Play #3 NO is in my opinion the most “enigmatic” team in the league right now, as I don’t “know” how they were able to perform such amazing comebacks in the L2 games. They’ve defeated ATL behind a strong 34-25 4th quarter and last game, they crushed MIN 37-20 after trailing by double digits points. Do you want to know the lineup that was largely responsible for such huge comeback last game? Answer: Rivers + Gordon + Morrow + Babbitt + Davis! Yes! Their offense basically depends of only 3 players in Davis, Gordon and Roberts while defensively, they are really a poor perimeter defensive team w/ Roberts + Gordon + Rivers on the perimeter. I expect today BKN to explore such weaknesses w/ Deron Williams and Joe Johnson on the backcourt. BKN is coming from a clear loss @DET in the last game. We are talking about an “old” team that is now 1-6 SU in b2b games on the road… Garnett didn’t play and Kidd “managed” well the minutes of his key players, so BKN will be ready for today’s game. Garnett will be rested and so, I expect him to be “decent” against Davis while the real X Factor of this contest is related w/ backcourt battle in which I give BKN a tremendous edge. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 806 Brooklyn Nets (-4.5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline

NBA Free Premium Play 02/01: Brooklyn Nets @ Indiana Pacers

Brooklyn  at Indiana

NBA - 501 Brooklyn Nets @ 502 Indiana Pacers Play #2 The Pacers struggled pretty badly in the first half vs. PHX in the last game by allowing 66 points! Eventually, they adjusted and bounced back in the 2nd half w/ strong 3rd quarter (allowed 11 points) but it was too late. Their biggest problem was the complete inability to defend in transition vs. PHX: they allowed 21 fast break points & 11-20 FG in transition. Obviously, we can expect them to be focused on defense tonight – IND is a strong “bounce back” team (8-1 ATS after losing one game) and at home their defense in this spot is particular nasty: they have allowed 84, 81, 82 and 66 points at home after losing one game. I don’t expect IND to have any kind of transition defense problems vs. BKN tonight. Even though, BKN plays w/ small ball, they simply don’t have the same kind of speed when compared vs. PHX. BKN is coming from a bad overall performance last night vs. OKC in which they grabbed only 17 rebounds but the good news is that the game basically ended in the first half – so Jason Kidd managed well the players’ minutes. I’ve said several times that IND offense is a bit “streaky” especially w/ their perimeter and right now they are struggling: 5-21 3pts vs. LAL & 1-15 3pts in their last game vs. PHX! After playing vs. some fast paced teams like PHX, LAL, DEN, SAC, PHX, GSW and LAC, I expect this contest to be a pure half court game w/ IND struggling to shoot from the outside & BKN struggling to score because…well, because they will face IND defense and therefore, I’m taking the Under in here as my Single Dime Play! Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 501/502 Under 190.5 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA Free Premium Play 12/27: Milwaukee Bucks @ Brooklyn Nets

Milwaukee  vs Brooklyn

NBA - 805 Milwaukee Bucks @ 806 Brooklyn Nets Play #6 Brooklyn are screwed without Brook Lopez in both ends of the floor. They can't generate easy looks down low with just 32.5 points scored in the paint on their last 7 games, while their outside shooting is just too streaky. They had two monster games regarding outside shooting against Philadelphia in both occasions, but they shot just 6-26 and 5-17 3pts on their last two games. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are struggling, the team has no transition game and so, their offense is super stagnant right now. On the other side, Milwaukee is becoming more and more competitive. In fact, three of their last four games went to overtime! They are showing better offense, with more consistent rotations, something that is allowing them to commit less turnovers per game. I believe Milwaukee will be a tough match up for Brooklyn's defense. The Bucks has been led by Brandon Knight's solid play and so, Deron Williams will have to work on defense on this match up tonight. Milwaukee has some good shooters like O.J. Mayo and Caron Butler and the return of Ersan Ilyasova will also give them some extra outside shooting, an area where Brooklyn's defense struggles. One of Milwaukee's main problems this season has been their awful defensive rebounding. Larry Sanders's return tonight will give them some help, even though he will play just 20 minutes. Another fact that will help them in here is the fact that Brooklyn is just #25 on offensive rebounding with a 23.3% offensive rebound rate, so the Bucks' poor defensive rebounding won't be explored in here. The Nets won at Milwaukee by 90-82 on the last game between these two teams, but that was due to Brook Lopez, who dominated with 11-13 FG, 10-11 FT and 32 points in 40 minutes! Without him, I expect the Nets to struggle and so, I'll be taking Milwaukee in here. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 805 Milwaukee Bucks (+4.5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA Premium Play 12/12

NBA - 501 Los Angeles Clippers @ 502 Brooklyn Nets

Play #1

*** TRIPLE DIME PLAY***

Regardless of their opponent for tonight, the Clippers will have to deal with a terrible physical spot. This will be their 6 straight road game, their 6th game in 9 days and we are talking about a team that lacks the proper depth and to make things even worse, they are shorthanded as well. They were able to win last night @BOS with a strong second half but they were facing a tired team that was playing the 2nd night of a b2b spot.

The decision to make the Nets a top play or a simple Single Dime Play was made after watching the great return of Deron Williams against the Celtics this last Tuesday.  I understand that the Nets are still far from being a great team but they will have tonight one particular huge edge on my opinion: Brook Lopez!

Lopez is just unstoppable on the post. He had 9-18 FG, 11-13 FG and 10-13 FG in the last 3 games and the Clippers only have DeAndre Jordan to defend him who is a bit foul prone. I expect the Nets frontcourt to complete dominate this contest. I remember that the Cavs’ frontcourt crushed the Clippers a few days ago w/ 16 offensive boards & 56.4% reb/rate while Andrew Bynum in just 24min went 8-13 from the field. LAC doesn’t have any depth on the front. Yesterday Doc Rivers used Jamison and Hollins for just 12 minutes and I saw for some moments Jared Dudley being @PF in some bizarre small ball lineups. Luckily for them, the Celtics don’t have a strong frontline so the Clippers were able to play small. This won’t happen tonight!

I was surprised with how good Deron Williams looked like on his return. He pushed the pace, he was aggressive and his shot was solid, just look to his stats line: 37min, 10-16 FG, 4-7 FT, 25 points and 7 assists. Make no mistake, the Nets perimeter defense remains awful and the Celtics torched them by hitting 11-22 3pts. However the Clippers are really struggling to hit outside shots during this road trip: 33-118 - a 28% mark! Their best shooter Reddick is out and with heavy legs, I don’t think they will be able to explore the Nets’ defensive weakest link. The presence of Deron Williams is extremely important because it will make CP3 work hard on the defensive end and again, this is a terrible physical spot for the Clippers!

I’m taking the Nets as one of my strongest plays of the season – Triple Dime Play!

Pick: 5 units (Triple Dime Play) on 502 Brooklyn Nets (+2.5) @ -110 / 1.91 on 5 Dimes

NBA Free Premium Play 12/05: New York Knicks @ Brooklyn Nets

New York  at Brooklyn

NBA - 501 New York Knicks @ 502 Brooklyn Nets Play #1 This is a game between two ridiculous Eastern teams that had high expectations for this season. For tonight, I believe the Knicks have better conditions to pound the Nets than the opposite. Brooklyn have Brook Lopez back and he is the only consistent player on the team's offense, but he needs some time to get back into his top form after an injury lay-off. However, Brooklyn is forcing a lot to try to feed Lopez down low. This is why the Nets had 22.9% and 24.8% volume of post ups on their last two games. They had efficient numbers on this play, but their offensive flow keeps being awful. This is actually good news for the Knicks' defense that is a nice post up defensive team by being #6 in the league with 0.76 PPP allowed. Andrea Bargnani isn't a weak individual defender, even though he is terrible on awareness and team help defense. The Knicks struggles on defending transition plays and they are coming from allowing 19 fast break points from the Pelicans, while their team help defense keeps struggling and so, they keep getting pounded by the opposing aggressive guards. However, they will be on a nice spot tonight, as Brooklyn is #29 in the league on fast break points with just 9.3 per game, while Deron Williams is still out and that will be a relief for the Knicks' guards. On the other side, Brooklyn's perimeter defense has been awful and they are #30 on pick and roll defense and #28 on spot up defense. The Knicks have been inconsistent on outside shooting this season, but the Nets will give them enough conditions for them to a nice outside game tonight. Therefore, I believe the Knicks have the better matchups to win tonight and so, I'll be taking them in here. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 501 New York Knicks ML @ -105 / 1.95 on Bookmaker

NBA Free Premium Play 11/30: Brooklyn Nets @ Memphis Grizzlies

Brooklyn  at Memphis

NBA - 705 Brooklyn Nets @ 706 Memphis Grizzlies Free Premium Play Brooklyn had absolutely no chance last night at Houston. First of all, Brooklyn has been struggling on pick and roll ball handling defense where they are dead last in the league, while their transition defense is also poor due to their lack of foot speed that also causes them problems on closing out the shooters. Therefore, Houston took advantage of that to torch them apart with 5-6 FG (3-4 3pts) on pick and roll ball handler plays, 14 fast break points with 4-7 FG on transition and 19-32 3pts with a great 15-28 FG on spot up plays! Kevin Garnett didn't play yesterday, but he should play tonight, while Brook Lopez returned yesterday but played only 21 minutes, so he should be fine for tonight as well. The Nets will now play at Memphis and I expect them to have some rest on defense tonight, as Memphis's offense lacks the characteristics to crush Brooklyn like Houston did last night. Memphis's outside shooting is poor and very inconsistent. This is why they are just #29 on spot ups. The Grizzlies have been adopting a grind out style lately and so, their transition game is also gone, even though they actually scored 18 fast break points on their last game. The Grizzlies' offense without Marc Gasol needs some time to adjust. They managed a nice performance at Boston due to a great 25-31 FT and some dominance down low against Boston's poor interior defense. This won't happen tonight against Brooklyn with Brook Lopez and Kevin Garnett back in the lineup together for the first time in a while. Therefore, I believe the Nets will be competitive tonight and so, I'll be taking them in here. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 705 Brooklyn Nets (+9) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA Free Premium Play 10/30: Brooklyn Nets @ Cleveland Cavaliers

Brooklyn  at Cleveland

NBA - 703 Brooklyn Nets @ 704 Cleveland Cavaliers Play #6 I believe we have a clear case of public overreacting in here on the fact that Mike Brown (defensive-minded coach) is now once again Cleveland's coach. The line was at 197 points that is my projected line, but it's now at 194 points, so we have good value on the Over in here. The problem for Cleveland is that their defense didn't look on preseason, while their new uptempo style will be a good edge against the slow footed Nets tonight. Offensively, the Cavaliers don't have a lot to worry about it. With Kyrie Irving as their starting PG and with Jarrett Jack coming off the bench, the Cavs will rely on pick and rolls to do their damage against the Nets. That's an area where in my opinion Cleveland will have success, as the Nets' frontcourt won't have the proper speed to rotate and protect their guards (Brook Lopez certainly won't leave his position in the painted area no matter what). Anderson Varejao is a solid finisher on pick and rolls, while Tristan Thompson is possibly the player that has impressed me the most with his evolution on the preseason, with his right-handed shooting stroke looking smooth and really effective. Cleveland will be a strong offensive rebounding team this season and Brooklyn with Brook Lopez and the veteran Kevin Garnett will struggle to be a decent defensive rebounding team. On the other side, I didn't really like Cleveland's overall defense on the preseason. Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters looked disinterested and sloppy to get back, something that will be explored by Deron Williams and Shaun Livingston, who impressed me on the preseason as well. With Brook Lopez having a normal edge down low over Cleveland's frontcourt, the Nets will have their usual inside out game that will be lethal, having in account the Cavs' poor perimeter defense. Also note that with Jason Kidd as their coach, the Nets are now playing faster than they were under Avery Johnson. I believe we have all the necessary ingredients for a high scoring game and so, I'll be taking the Over in here. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 703/704 Over 194 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

Brooklyn Nets NBA Team Season Preview 2013-14

BROOKLYN NETS

Season Review 2012/13:

Advanced Stats
	Numbers	Rank
Pace	88.8	28
Offense	108.2	8
Defense	106.2	17
Rebound	52.4	3

4 Factors
Offense	Numbers	Rank	Defense	Numbers	Rank
eFG%	49.8	13	eFG%	50.3	20
TO%	14.0	20	TO%	13.1	23
Reb%	30.9	3	Reb%	26.3	12
FT%	21.9	7	FT%	17.4	2

Monthly Performance
	Record	OffRtg	DefRtg
November	11-4	109.1	104.0
December	5-11	105.1	112.5
January	11-4	112.9	107.2
February	7-5	105.0	108.3
March	8-7	112.3	109.2
April	7-2	113.9	105.4

Very few teams had so many ups and downs in the same season as the Brooklyn Nets had last season.

The hype was huge at the start of the season and it wasn’t even bigger because the Nets failed to sign Dwight Howard after a very long “soap opera”. As they couldn’t sign Howard, they decided to lock up Brook Lopez with a long term contract.

On paper, the Nets would have an incredible starting lineup with Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams, a tough matchup to almost everybody due to their superior size in almost every position. In fact, things started great for Brooklyn, who ended November with an 11-4 record and with their coach Avery Johnson winning the Eastern Coach of the Month award.

However, the Nets basically took advantage of a soft early schedule (six of those wins were against Orlando (x3), Cleveland, Toronto and Sacramento), but as soon as their schedule got tougher, the Nets lost 10 of their following 13 games, with Avery Johnson getting fired because of that.

Avery Johnson’s job with the Nets will always be related with his inability to make Deron Williams be the player that he was in Utah. Of course the main culprit of that has to be Deron himself, but the truth is that Johnson’s style of managing didn’t help Deron one bit: the Nets were one of the slowest paced teams in the league (#3 slowest), something predictable given their lack of speed, however Avery had the tendency to call almost every offensive set, something that removed Deron from having any kind of creative freedom on court, something ridiculous considering the fact that Deron is one of the most talented PG’s in the league.

Under P.J. Carlesimo, the Nets improved dramatically mostly due to Deron Williams’s much better form, but we were still in front of a quite unbalanced team.

Kris Humphries lost his starting spot to Reggie Evans and as great as he was in rebounding, Evans was a black hole on offense, whose job was just to screen and rebound. To make things even worst, Gerald Wallace lost all his self-confidence on offense and he confessed that to the press:

“My confidence is totally gone.” Gerald Wallace told The Post Saturday. “I’m just at the point now ... I’m in a situation where I feel like if I miss, I’m going to get pulled out of the game; you know what I’m saying? So my whole concept is just that you can’t come out of the game if you’re not missing shots. I think I lost the confidence of the coaching staff and my teammates. So my main thing is those guys can score, so instead of thinking about it so much, just trying to focus on defense, try to move the ball and get those guys shots.”

Gerald Wallace had a terrible second half of the season with an awful 33.5% FG, 13.5% 3pts and 60% FT! If it’s tough to hide a non-offensive threat on the lineup nowadays, then imagine playing with two players on their starting lineup who aren’t offensive threats! It’s a recipe for disaster in the playoffs, something that would eventually really happen to them in the postseason.

Anyway, Brooklyn had home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, as they were #4 in the Eastern Conference, with a solid 49-33 record. The experience gained from last season could have been positive if it wasn’t for the ridiculous way that they got eliminated in the playoffs, on a decisive Game 7 at home, where they lost to a depleted Bulls team.

Chicago’s coach Mike Thibodeau took advantage of the problems that I mentioned previously to completely ignore both Reggie Evans and Gerald Wallace when the Nets had the ball. It was bizarre to watch Nate Robinson “guarding” Gerald Wallace, but that worked great for the Bulls. The lack of mental toughness and competitiveness from the Nets was crystal clear and that gave them a bad taste from what happened last season.

Will the Brooklyn Nets contend next season?

Brooklyn certainly made the biggest trade on this offseason so far by getting Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from Boston, while removing any chance of improving their roster via draft in the following years, as they don't have their future draft picks anymore. This move has been criticized by almost everybody, but in my opinion, this was actually the right gamble for the Nets, as last year's roster wasn't good enough to win a NBA championship with two non-offensive threats in the starting lineup: Reggie Evans and Gerald Wallace. But the first challenge for Brooklyn this season will be having Jason Kidd as their head coach. It's weird to see Kidd coaching players from his generation. More important than that, when he was presented as Brooklyn's new head coach, GM Billy King said that Kidd wanted to implement ball movement and an uptempo offense on his interview. With a potential starting lineup of Brook Lopez, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams, I don't know if it will be a good idea to implement an up tempo scheme to a team with no explosion whatsoever, but that's something we will need to check when the season starts.

This trade was great for Kevin Garnett, who will have every condition to end his career in a high note. Garnett was great during Boston's Big Three era and he was the main reason why the Celtics had such a great rim defense during most of his tenure in Boston. However, the Celtics were the #7 worst team on rim defense last season, but that was due to the fact that Garnett played as a Center last season, something that didn't allow him to do what he does best on defense: being a help defender! Garnett will now be back at the PF position in Brooklyn, as the Nets have Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche to play at the Center position. In fact, the Lopez/Garnett duo will be very interesting to follow. Brook Lopez is one of the best low post offensive players of the league, while Kevin Garnett has been a solid mid-range shooter over the last few years. In fact, he was really excellent last season on this area:

The differences between Reggie Evans and Kevin Garnett are tremendous and therefore, the floor spacing of the Nets' offense will significantly improve next season.

Regarding Paul Pierce, he is still a great player and he had an underrated last season in my opinion. Since Rajon Rondo went down with a knee injury, Paul Pierce took over the Celtics' offense and he was excellent. In March, he had 50.3% FG, 19.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 5.9 apg (all-star numbers!). His last image in Boston was that he struggled on the playoffs series against the Knicks, where he shot 36.8% FG and committed 5.3 TO/game, but Boston simply lacked a decent backup for him and asking a 35-years old player to be on court 42.5 minutes per game like in that series was just too much for him. Now in Brooklyn, with more depth in the roster, Paul Pierce won't be forced to play as many minutes as he had to in Boston.

Deron Williams and Joe Johnson will return to the Nets this season. Both players were banged up for most of the last season and Johnson faded later on the year with a foot injury. But it seems like Johnson won't have any limitations regarding this injury next season.

"I've basically nursed my foot since we got eliminated and my foot is 100 percent." Joe Johnson said. "I'm just working out now, getting in shape and trying to prepare for next season."

On the other hand, Deron Williams bounced back during the second half of the season after a terrible start of the season, even though he was banged up.

So, if Jason Kidd turns up to be a quality coach, the Nets have the weapons to be a tough out in the East. Can you imagine the Heat to guard Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez down low? Therefore, I believe Brooklyn has the right players to be a contender next season. But do they have the right coach to lead them? We won't have a definite answer for that until the season starts.

NBA Premium Play 05/04: Chicago Bulls @ Brooklyn Nets

NBA - 555 Chicago Bulls @ 556 Brooklyn Nets

Projected Line: 178 points

We have tonight the only Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs this season between Brooklyn and Chicago. I believe this will be a nervous game, while being a quite physical one and with both defenses winning the battle over the opposing offenses. The last three games of this series were all high scoring games. Note that the pace of the games continued being quite slow, but the offensive ratings were incredible and this is why so many points were scored. However, for tonight's game, I believe the slow pace will happen once again tonight, but this time offenses will struggle a bit.

The Game 6 was already a good indicator of that, as while we had 114 points scored during the first half, the second half had just 73 points. Both teams had two days off to rest between the Game 5 and 6 and with fresh legs, both offenses were super sharp in the first half, especially Joe Johnson who scored 13 points and looked decent while moving around- The problem for him was on the second half where he had 4 points in the 3rd quarter and 0 points in the 4th quarter! After the game, he seemed completely worn out and banged up, so I don't believe he has fully recovered with just 1 day off. Joakim Noah's health seems improved right now and he played 43 minutes in Game 6. These are bad news for Brook Lopez, who will have more problems to score against him. He is coming from 7-18 FG and 3 rebounds in Game 6, far from the dominant numbers he had been having throughout this series.

Chicago had several banged up players on Game 6 like Nate Robinson and Taj Gibson, besides being without Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich. However, the Bulls's defense was still impeccable during the second half. Even though the Bulls are still far from being 100% healthy, their defensive pride is huge and so, I expect them to have another good defensive performance tonight. Their problem is that their offense is going to struggle. Brooklyn isn't committing turnovers and they are coming back quickly to defense. This is why the Bulls scored just 9 and 8 fast break points on the last two games of the series. Besides some good numbers from Carlos Boozer, we are dealing with a team that is shooting an absurd number of 16-23 feet jumpers. They were being efficient in doing that, but they wouldn't be able to keep doing that forever and they struggled on Game 6 with just 6-26 FG! We are dealing with a team that used their starters for 42, 43, 46, 48 and 33 minutes on Game 6! Carlos Boozer played just 33 minutes because he was in foul trouble or he would also have played more than 40 minutes. Chicago with tired legs won't have the physical form to hit their jumpers and so, they will have to compensate once again on defense.

Therefore, I expect a super low scoring game in here tonight and so, I'll be taking the Under on this contest.

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 555/556 Under 182 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bovada

NBA Premium Play 05/02: Brooklyn Nets @ Chicago Bulls

NBA - 539 Brooklyn Nets @ 540 Chicago Bulls

Projected Line: Brooklyn by 3 points
We have a lot of injury problems for tonight's game. Joe Johnson said that he is playing on one leg, but that he is playing:

"I’m basically just a decoy, spot-up shooter. I can’t really do a whole lot," he said

Reggie Evans has a flu and wasn't at practice, but he will be ready to fly to play tonight. Andray Blatche's right calf is sore, but he hopes it will be 90 percent by tonight. On the other hand, Kirk Hinrich has been ruled out of tonight's game with a calf injury. That's a huge blow for Chicago, who will now have to rely on Nate Robinson to play heavy minutes at the PG position. Hinrich's absence will also impact the Bulls's defense, as Hinrich has been amazing on defending Deron Williams throughout this series. Luol Deng and Taj Gibson are both game-time decisions due to illness. Suddenly, the Bulls are shorthanded with all these injury problems.

Nate Robinson is coming from a team-high 44 minutes on Game 5 and with Kirk Hinrich still out, Deron Williams will have a clear edge at the PG position tonight. The problem isn't exactly the 1*1 matchup between Nate and Deron, but the way Chicago's help defense is forced to compensate Nate's lack of size. Luol Deng is forced to defend Deron Williams and so, he gets too exhausted to perform on offense. On the other hand, in order to avoid Deron Williams from attacking the rim, the Bulls's frontcourt is forced to get away from the basket to help Nate. The result of that puts the Bulls in a struggling position for the boards battle. This is why Brooklyn had 17 offensive rebounds on Game 5, with Brook Lopez getting 6 offensive boards on his own!

Perhaps thanks to a healthier frontcourt, the Nets have won the boards battle on the last two games of this series by grabbing 52.02% and 57.32% of the rebounds on those games. Brook Lopez has been the only player on this series that he is being consistent on offense and with Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson limited plus Nazr Mohammed being too old and slow to defend him, the same should happen today with Lopez dominating. Nate Robinson's presence on the backcourt will also force the Bulls's frontcourt to give extra help on the outside, allowing Brook to have more space down low.

On the other side, Chicago's offense has been very perimeter-based, with some "hero ball" from Nate Robinson plus long-range jumpers from Luol Deng and Jimmy Butler, an area where they aren't assertive. So far on this series, Chicago has been shooting quite well from the worst possible area to shoot (16-23 feet), but that's a dangerous style to have in comparison to Brook Lopez's domination on the down low. I see the Nets having more chances than the Bulls to win tonight's game and so, I'll be taking them in here tonight.

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 539 Brooklyn Nets (+1) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA Free Premium Play 04/27: Brooklyn Nets @ Chicago Bulls

Brooklyn  at Chicago

NBA - 501 Brooklyn Nets @ 502 Chicago Bulls Projected Line: 174 points On this moment of the series, both offenses are being completely limited by both defenses and this won't change today. Gerald Wallace said on an interview yesterday that he still doesn't know his role on the team and that's worrying considering we are in April! Anyway, after a nice Game 1, Gerald Wallace disappeared completely over the last two games, something dramatic as with Reggie Evans on the floor, the Nets have two limited players on offense, something really worrying against an elite defensive team like the Bulls. The inclusion of Joakim Noah instead of Nazr Mohammed was the biggest change on this series. Of course Brook Lopez will still have good numbers, but he won't dominate like he did early on the series. It seems like Brooklyn won't change their lineup for today and they will just change their rotations. The Nets are defending well, but it's not like it's tough to defend the Bulls. Brook Lopez has been defending well down low and the Nets limited the Bulls to just 9-27 FG at the rim for an incredible 33.4% FG! Chicago was still able to generate some offense due to their great 14-23 FG from 16-23 feet, but they were efficient from the worst zone to be efficient and so, I expect a regression from them at this area today. Therefore, I expect another super low scoring game today and so, I'll be taking the Under in here. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 501/502 Under 177 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bovada

NBA Premium Play 04/22: Chicago Bulls @ Brooklyn Nets

NBA - 717 Chicago Bulls @ 718 Brooklyn Nets

Projected Line: Brooklyn by 8 points

Brooklyn crushed Chicago in the first game of the series and even though I had taken them on the spread, even I didn't expect them to win that game so easily. I mentioned two key factors that favored the Nets on this matchup and both were very evident on Game 1 and will continue being evident throughout the series: Deron Williams and Brook Lopez! Offensively, Deron Williams just crushed Kirk Hinrich on this individual matchup. When coach Thibodeau put Nate Robinson on the floor, Thibodeau quickly had to remove him from the game, as Deron would just attack him down low time and time again for some easy layups. Then, Thibodeau switched and put Jimmy Butler defending Deron and so, instead of attacking the basket, he would pass the ball to Gerald Wallace on the block who was being guarded by... Kick Hinrich!

Brook Lopez also dominated the Game 1 of this series. Joakim Noah is a warrior, but he is super limited right now. Nazr Mohammed is no match for Brook Lopez, while Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson are undersized to guard Lopez. When the Bulls played small ball with Luol Deng at the PF position, they improved on offense, but they kept getting destroyed on defense. Thibodeau has the tough decision of choosing between sacrificing defense or offense, but in both cases the Nets will still have the edge. One good way to limit the Nets is to make Deron Williams and Brook Lopez work hard on defense, but even on this area the Nets are fine on this matchup, as Chicago doesn't have offensive weapons on these two particular positions, as Derrick Rose is still out, while Joakim Noah is literally playing on one foot right now.

For tonight's game, I expect Chicago to play with more intensity and defend a little better down low, as Brooklyn had 20-24 FG at the rim and 8-12 FG from 3-9 feet on Game 1, but it won't be still enough because the position edge that Brooklyn has in Brook Lopez on this matchup is huge, while their remaining players are very confident right now, including Gerald Wallace who has regained his self-trust. On the other side, Carlos Boozer had a huge game in the first contest of this series, as he was on fire on his mid-range jumpers with 2-3 FG from 3-9 feet, 2-2 FG from 10-15 feet and even 3-4 FG from 16-23 feet. He is currently the only reliable offensive player of the Bulls, but he was still incredibly efficient on Game 1. Chicago has been struggling the whole season on their outside shooting, as they don't have a lot of good shooters on their roster. They need to get offensive rebounds and attack the basket to be remotely efficient on the offensive end, but Brooklyn's inside size is a bad matchup for them. Therefore, I expect another easy win for the Nets in here and so, I'll be taking them once again tonight.

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 718 Brooklyn Nets (-4,5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA Premium Play 04/20: Chicago Bulls @ Brooklyn Nets

NBA - 705 Chicago Bulls @ 706 Brooklyn Nets

Projected Line: Brooklyn by 8 points

On this matchup, I believe the two players of Chicago that would be the key for them against the Nets are currently injured: Derrick Rose (who may play later in the series, but never at 100%) and especially Joakim Noah. These two players would be the key for the Bulls, as Brooklyn's best players play exactly on these two positions. There isn't a lot to talk about the Bulls. Shorthanded or not, they play hard and are incredibly physical. It's impossible not to admire how much effort they put on court and it's important to note that they were the team that ended with the two big streaks of the 2nd half of the season: Miami and the NY Knicks! In regular season games, nobody plays as hard as they do. They won the regular season series against Brooklyn by 3-1, but things at the playoffs should be a bit different. 

Like I've mentioned, the Bulls's effort is tremendous in every game, while the Nets were accused during the regular season of not having a "good motor". Coincidentally or not, the Nets's three losses against the Bulls on the regular season were on back to back spots for them, while Chicago was rested on these three games! Deron Williams has been a new player since the All Star break by averaging 48.1% FG, 42.0% 3pts, 22.9 ppg and 8.0 apg! I watched the last game between these two teams, played already in April, where the Bulls won at Brooklyn by 92-90. Note that it was a terrible spot for Brooklyn, who was returning home after a tough 7-games road trip, where they literally played all over the country: Detroit, Dallas, LA Clippers, Phoenix, Portland, Denver, Utah and Cleveland! To make things worse for them, that was also a back to back spot for them. The Nets even had a good start by outscoring the Bulls by 26-13 in the first quarter and during that period, it was evident how much the Bulls need a healthy Joakim Noah, as Brook Lopez absolutely crushed Nazr Mohammed with 8-9 FG and 18 points on the first quarter! Deron Williams was great as well while dominating both Kirk Hinrich and Nate Robinson with 30 points and 10 assists, while Joe Johnson struggled, but that was his first game back from injury, so he was lacking rhythm for his typical isolation plays. 

These two tremendous positional edges at PG and Center won't disappear for the Nets on this series. Note that on the last game against the Nets that Joakim Noah played, he did the following: 10-13 FG, 21 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals! Today, with both teams on the same physical spot, I don't expect Chicago to have the physical edge that they had on the three games where they've defeated the Nets during the regular season. This time, I expect Brooklyn to outplay Chicago, especially down the stretch, where they will outplay the Bulls with their superior offensive power. Therefore, I'll be taking the Nets on the Game 1 of this series.

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 706 Brooklyn Nets (-4,5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker