darrell,

Glad to see the playoffs here. We had a winning playoffs last year including a nice 4-1 start to the opening weekend. Today we go with three picks.

My NBA Power Rankings are updated weekly and can be found here.

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Good luck , darrell!

Game: Washington at Cleveland (3:00 PM Eastern)
Pick: 3 stars on Cleveland -5

Save Detroit, you are looking at the best home team in the Eastern conference here in the Cavs. They were 31-10 SU and 23-17 ATS at home where they both scored more and played much better defense. Over the past two seasons now, they are 23-12 ATS at home vs. winning teams. Overall, the Cavs are 31-21 as a favorite this season and 21-10 ATS off 2+ days of rest. They beat and covered the spread agains playoff teams here. At home, King James will outshine Arenas, Jamison and Butler. Washington's defense is the big problem here. They allowed a terrible 102.1 points per game away from home this season and in the playoffs, that's not going to cut it. LeBron and the Cavs here.

Chicago showed on Sunday that they can beat Miami. Granted, that was far from a meaningful game like this one but it tells me something that the Bulls handed the Heat their worst home loss in four years. Chicago is a gritty team that never gives up (good when laying big points). They have 14 straight-up wins this season in games in which they were trailing by 10+ points at one point. They are playing at their peak, having won 11 of 14 games to get here. It's a good matchup for the Bulls. They shoot well from beyond the arc and those are exactly the types of teams against which Miami struggles. The Heat are just 4-15 ATS this season vs. teasm that attpempt 18+ 3pt shots per game (1-9 ATS in second half). While Miami is certainly a great team, they remain overvalued by the public who are enamored with Wade and the Diesel as the Heat are just 36-45 ATS overall this year including 16-24 at home. Chicago meanwhile had a winning record but SU and ATS on the road this season, in large part to their three-point shooting - they conected on 38.2% of their bombs. Miami should win but this seems like too many points.

Denver played very well last year in round one but this is a different year. Despite upgrades to personnel, they didn't perform nearly as well as they could/should have - especially when compared to last year's incredible second half run under new coach George Karl. They had a good year this year and Carmello finally stepped up his game. But, they still aren't that good. And, they let down big-time towards the end of the season when games were still very meaningful. They lost eight of their last eleven games. My concern is that their usually awesome offense fell apart. If they can't score in triple digits this series, they are in for serious trouble. They averaged just 86.5 points per game in their last four. The Clippers are as excited as can be. It's the first time in nine years they have seen the playoffs. Behind the stellar play of Elton Brand, the Clippers took over "best team in LA" honors this year. Some may say Denver should be hosting this game given their higher seed. But, the bottom line is that Los Angeles had the better record. That's why they get a home game and it's why they should win and cover tonight. George Karl did breathe new life into the Nuggets with his arrival last year. The Nuggs were vitually unstoppable at home then. Not so this year and his road performance has always been a bit suspect late in the season. He is now 20-40 ATS as an NBA coach in April games since 1996. In Denver, this would be a different story. But, here in LA, I like the Clipps to come out fired up and win and cover.