Stump the Stiffs Week 6, 12-4-15

Friday, friday, friday! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving week, and is in full Christmas swing. This is our first week with no Nuggets game on the docket, but we’ve got four nice matchups to choose from as well as a sad line on Kobe Bryant’s shooting prowess. We’ve got two in-state showdowns, a neighboring state rivalry and one cross country affair.

On the roster for making the picks this week we have Stiffs' own Colin Neilson, he of the Beefy Swats! Stiffs commenters are represented this week by our long time reader dynamo.joe and on the Reddit side we've got a man of brevity and resident cynic in /u/Chucho320. Let's not delay any longer, pick time!

Colin Neilson: Brief Nuggets tangent: I’d love to see some improved shooting from Emmanuel Mudiay and Danilo Gallinari. Both of them are pressing hard and forcing shots due to the team’s poor play. They need to be more aggressive taking it to the rim instead of settling for outside jumpers. I can give Danilo a bit of a break on this given his shooting prowess and tired legs having to take on the brittle Wilson Chandler’s scoring load, but Mudiay should be taking it to the hole unless the shot clock is running down. Alright, now for the picks. Give me a spirited Phoenix over Washington. I’ll take the much-improved Bucks over Detroit. I think Dallas handles a floundering Rockets team. Kristaps Porzingis is (unfortunately for Nuggets fans) a lot better than we all initially believed, so give me New York over Brooklyn at home. Give me the over on Kobe. I think he is going to remember the importance of taking smart shots in….hahaha I can’t finish that. Regardless, Kobe is going to have a better shooting night against the Hawks than he’s had recently.

dynamo.joe: I actually have Phoenix as a slightly better team, but at home and with possibly lingering Tyson Chandler hammy, I’m gonna give this one to Les Bullets. I don’t think a win over the hapless Nuggets carries over this far. It’s the ‘healing response’ of in season fixes. An easy win for Stan Van Gundy and Andre Drummond. The Rockets and Mavericks is a stay away game if you’re a betting man. Should be an easy win for Dallas, at home on a couple days rest, even though they are facing future hall of famer Clint Capela. However, Houston has about 10 different guys who could decide they are tired of the shitshow they’ve been putting on display and win it by themselves. Still, gotta go with Dallas. Andrea Bargnani gets injured and Brooklyn starts winning. Coincidence? Probably not. You can’t just go chalk all the way down the line and I guess this is where I’m gonna diverge. The numbers say easy win for the NYK’s, but I’m taking Brooklyn on the strength of that Bargs hammy, even though they’re still stuck with a coach stupid enough to give regular minutes to the worst player of the last decade. I had hoped to make the bigger prediction that Kobe will actually retire (as in go home and get an analyst gig) after the next home game, but apparently the Lakers don’t play at home for the rest of the season, so…I’ll just take the under.

/u/Chucho320: Wizards – John Wall and company gelling. Detroit – The wheels are coming off the Bucks’ wagon and Detroit is looking solid. Dallas – the Rockets’ slide continues. New York – Kristaps kicking butt and taking names. Under – …way under.

And there you have it! Make sure to get in touch with our moderators (Russ Hamilton, Mancar and CombatChuk) or Alec Gwin on the Reddit side (@alecgwin) if you'd like to participate.

If you're keeping score:

Stiffs Staff: 10-15

Stiffs Commenters: 12-13

Nuggets subreddit: 15-10