Free Basketball Picks – 3/25/06

Our basketball predictions: Utah to keep up with the Kings, Mavericks to surpass the Hawks, and the Clippers to demolish the Wizards.

Kings @ Jazz: Utah hasn’t done a good job of keeping up with the Kings. With the Lakers and Hornets still in contention, a win here against the Kings could be their biggest challenge of the year. The last time these two met the Kings they went through the entire fourth quarter without a field goal. With Ron Artest more used to the Kings, an incident like that won’t happen again. Predicted Score: Utah wins 88-86

Mavericks @ Hawks: Dallas may have the best road record in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean they win their games handily. Lately, the Mavs have had trouble taking out weak teams like the Hawks. Dallas is strong when it takes big first-half leads and needs to do that here for an easy win. Predicted Score: Dallas wins 103-99

Wizards @ Clippers: Both teams are pretty similar and should match up well most nights. But the Wizards are on a West Coast tour and play at 10:30 a.m. ET. Gilbert Arenas will have to carry them while he tries to increase his PPG stat to 30 per night. Elton Brand could have another big game here against a much smaller Antawn Jamison. Predicted score: LA Clippers win 102-87