This article is part of our NBA Picks series.
There's really nothing quite as entertaining as a good coach meltdown. In the past month, we have two candidates for meltdown of the year: Doc Rivers and Luke Walton.
Rivers is definitely the leading candidate as we inch closer to Christmas Day basketball, evidenced by the fact that he needed BOTH DeAndre Jordan and Sam Cassell to hold him back. I look forward to power ranking the best coach meltdowns in this space at the end of the year.
Last Week: 1-1 (12-9-1 on the season)
Quote I regret from last week: "A win streak. A buzzing Madison Square Garden. A lot of Porzingis. Knicks should cover this spread -- take those points and pray Kevin Love does not drop another 34-point quarter."
Currently the three-seed in the Eastern Conference, the New York Knicks, as we found out last week, are, at best, a second-round playoff team that would lose by 20 points per game to an elite team like the Cleveland Cavaliers.
On to this week:
We are going with three games this week, while keeping the analysis a bit shorter. This way I'll hopefully have fewer regrettable quotes to choose from.
Celtics at Spurs (-8)
The Celtics are truly missing their All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas, who will be sidelined for a few more games, at least, after opting to go with the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, as noted by Rotowire's Jeff Stotts. The Celtics have hung tough over the last three games without Thomas, but his 26.0 points per game would have been crucial in competing with the Spurs on the road.
The Pick: Spurs -8
Lakers at Nets (-1.5)
Los Angeles is on a seven-game losing streak, but over the last two games D'Angelo Russell is slowly returning to form. While the Lakers might be without Julius Randle in this road matchup, they do find themselves in a great position to get back to their strong start to the season with a favorable matchup against the Nets. This game will pose an interesting question to how important Russell is to the Lakers success.
The Pick: Lakers +1.5
Kings at Rockets (-9.5)
It is a big point spread, but the Rockets are finally seeing somebody other than James Harden perform. With Patrick Beverley back in the starting lineup, the Rockets have gone 11-2 of their last 13 games. They also claim one of the best ATS records in the league at 17-8, proving the big point spread, especially at home against Western Conference opponents (4-2), favor The Beard and company.
The pick: Rockets -9.5
