Just barely outside the playoffs spot, Detroit Pistons will be looking to win tonight against Washington Wizards, which would see them catching up to Miami Heat at the 8th spot in the East.
Detroit Pistons are coming into this match after an impressive 3 game winning streak. IN the course of those 3 games they won against Denver Nuggets (129:103), New York Knicks (92:105) and New York Knicks in a rematch (120:103). It seems like Pistons are doing something right with a 4-1 record in their last 5 games, which is a nice change of pace after a 1-4 record in the 5 matches prior to their good run. At the moment, Pistons are 9th in the East with an overall record of 25-29, which is the same record as Miami Heat who are 8th and just in the playoff position. With the 55th game of the season ahead of Pistons, they will hope to continue with their good run, which just might see them passing Miami who are facing Denver Nuggets tonight.
Washington Wizards are currently 11th in the East with a 24-32 record this season. While their record in the past 5 games does not look too good (2-3), they are on 2 games winning streak, which just might be a sign of improvement. In their last 2 matches, Washington Wizards won against Cleveland Cavaliers (119:106) and most recently against Chicago Bulls (125:134). While winning 2 in a row is great, Wizards did not really have though opponents in those 2 games. Nonetheless, a win is still a win and they will look to make it 3 in a row tonight. The biggest issue I have with Washington is their poor defence. In their last 5 games, Wizards conceded well over 600 points (647) which is the most in the East. But it’s not all that dark, as Wizards on the other side scored the most points as well (626) in the span of their last 5 games. Taking that into consideration, Wizards are a team that can score, however, it’s their poor defence that prevents them from achieving higher positions. There is also an issue with Wizards seemingly underperforming when playing against at least half decent teams.
This will be the 2n time Detroit Pistons faces off against Washington Wizards this season. With 2 H2H games behind these two teams, each has won once. Another interesting thing I can mention is that each time the team which played at home won. Going into this match Washington will miss Wall and Howard, while Brown and Green are both questionable. Pistons on the other side will be without Ellenson, whom they plan on releasing in the near future, so this should not affect the team at all. What I expect in this match is Pistons to extend their winning streak, however, with low odds offered on them we won’t be betting on Pistons but rather look at the Over/Under market. With Wizards poor defence and good offence, I expect plenty of scoring on both sides. Expect Wizards to use full advantage of their offensive power, while Pistons take advantage of Wizards poor defence and their terrible rebounding. This match should easily end with more than 220 points, and with odds of 2.00 this one is a steal.
Prediction: Over 220.5 points
Odds: 2.01 Matchbook
