Detroit Pistons are currently at 9th position in the East, with a record of 23-28. Looking at their form in the past 5 games, they managed to win 2 of the games played. Both of the wins came from home games, whereas they lost all 3 of their away games, so it’s safe to say Pistons perform significantly better at home, compared to games played on the road. That can be confirmed with their season record; at home (14:10), away (9:18). Looking at their recent match against Indiana Pacers, Pistons suffered a 21 point loss. I always see losses with such high margins a sign of poor form of a team. Of course there are matches were a top NBA team meets one of the worst ones, and a huge margin is reasonable, but Indiana should not have walked off the court with 21 points to spare in my opinion. The match did not start with the same fashion as it finished. First 2 quarters did not offer us any signs of any teams dominating the court. In fact Pistons were leading by 2 points before heading into the locker rooms. However, last 2 quarters showed us a completely different picture compared to 1st half. 3rd quarter ended with Pacers outscoring the visiting team by 12 points. If that was not enough, they added another 11 points to their lead in the last 12 minutes, thus securing the win. Pistons performance was terrible to say the least. Their shooting % in the last 2 quarters was terrible (33.3%), (27.8%), whereas they let Pacers hold a decent 50%FG. With numbers like that you cannot expect to win the match, so they need to work on that prior to tonight’s match.
The visitors tonight are Philadelphia 76ers, a team I have covered several times before. Their form has not improved lately, as they are currently on a 3 game losing streak, with teams such as; Mavericks (113:95), SA Spurs (102:86) and Heat (125:102) all taking the win from 76ers. Looking at past 5 games, 76ers won only against Kings (112:119) and will now be hoping to break their losing streak and win against Pistons, as they did back in December (79:97). The last match against Heat did not start well for 76ers, as they were down by 15 by the end of 1st quarter. Despite a huge margin prior to 2nd quarter, we could see 76ers putting up a good fight in 2nd quarter, which they surprisingly won (32:35). Despite their hard work, Heat still went into the 2nd half with 12 point lead, which was further extended by 13 points (36:23). Last 12 minutes were similar to 2nd quarter with 76ers outscoring Heat by 2 points (25:27). That was not nearly enough for the win, but I like how 76ers seem to not give up and still strive to put up a good performance despite being several points behind. Statistic wise, I would like to see Philadelphia put some more work in protecting their basket, as they allow for too many points and too high of FG% of their opponents. They did a decent job against SA Spurs, who ended the match with 42.7% and I believe they can do the same tonight.
Verdict & Prediction
Pistons come off as a favourites as they are playing at home, where ( as I previously mentioned) perform very well. Philadelphia 76ers on the other hand are on a 4 consecutive away defeat at the moment, but still I see a great opportunity to bet on 76ers. Of course, the fact is that they have not won many games recently, but they do know how to put up a good fight against any opponent they meet. I do believe in this team and with odds offered to us with +10 on 76ers I don’t see a reason not to take the bet.
Prediction: Philadelphia 76ers +10 points
Odds: 1.84 SBOBET
