Pistons vs. Cavaliers: Preview, odds and best bets
The Detroit Pistons will play an In-Season NBA Tournament game on Friday in Cleveland against the Cavaliers. More important than the tournament, head coach Monty Williams needs his team in the win column after nine straight losses through just 12 games.
In their most recent loss, against the Hawks on Tuesday, the Pistons were within 3-4 points for much of the fourth quarter. A few well-placed shots would have ended the losing streak. Nonetheless, in the NBA, you get the record you deserve. Right now, the Pistons deserve their ugly 2-10 mark. But there’s time for this team to push themselves back into a better spot.
The reclamation of respect for Detroit begins with reducing their fouls and mishandles of the basketball. Detroit is among league leaders in several of the “bad” categories, like turnover differential, most personal fouls committed and fewest free throws attempted. It’s a heck of a lot easier to shoot when no one is defending you, and currently, Detroit is allowing their opponents to shoot nearly 12 more free throws per game.
Last time on the court, Marvin Bagley III went for 22 points and grabbed 11 boards. Williams was clearly trying to mix up his rotation, giving more floor time to Bagley, in place of Jalen Duren, who was shelved by injury again. However, Bagley was careless with the basketball (4 turnovers), and most alarmingly, Cade Cunningham committed six turnovers. Opposing teams have too many chances to score against the Pistons so far this season. That’s why we like the over 220.5 total points tonight at Caesars Sportsbook.
Cleveland has played poorly at home this season. They sit at 1-3 on their home court and are 0-4 against the spread. Tonight we suggest placing $50 on the Pistons at FanDuel Sportsbook to get back into the win column.
If you’d rather wager $100, go for the point spread at +7.5 (+110, FanDuel).
We’ve now won four consecutive best bets to lift our season winnings to $270 on eight wagers:
- Swishes: 5
- Airballs: 3
- Bankroll: +$270
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The Pistons and Cavs score almost the same number of points per game (about 110), but they get there in different ways. The Cavs shoot very well from inside the arc, in the paint and they take more threes. Even though Cleveland takes more threes, they are less consistent from range compared to Detroit. Both teams can use their height near the rim to get buckets.
Still, we think Monty’s crew will end their nine-game losing streak tonight in Cleveland, in a game of offensive droughts. The Pistons are allowing 120.5 points in their last seven losses, but Cleveland fashions itself as a three-point shooting team yet they don’t have the skill to pull that off. The shooting will be U-G-L-Y in this game and more of an old-fashioned slugfest inside the paint.
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