In this Eastern Conference match up Wizards will be hoping to extend their home winning streak to 4 games in a row with a win over Detroit Pistons.
In the course of their last 5 games, Detroit Pistons won against Bulls (102:91), Timberwolves (90:117) and Mavericks (85:95), whereas they failed to win over Hornets (87:77) and 76ers (79:97).
This season, Pistons hold a record of 14-13 and are currently in 7th position in Eastern Conference. They do a lot of work in the defensive end of the field, letting opponents score only 95.7 points on average, whereas they do too little in the offensive end of the floor, with an average of 98.2ppg. If they find their rhythm in the scoring department they surely will be one of the best teams in the league, but until then a mid table position is fair place to be.
Looking at Pistons last matches, they surprisingly lost to 76ers (79:97) on Monday. It was a terrible performance to say the least. Pistons were slacking in the offense, as they scored only 12 points in the 1st quarter and 15 points in 4th quarter. In the next match against Mavericks (85:95), Pistons did indeed win, but they did not convince me with their performance. Mavericks are the worst team in the league, but still had a great chance to win over Pistons. And they would if they had not failed to stop Pistons in 4th quarter (21:35).
Wizards on the other hand are coming into this match after getting a win over Hornets (109:106)., which was their 3th consecutive win at the home ground. Looking at Wizards last 5 games, they won 3; against Nuggets (92:85), Bucks (110:105) and as mentioned before Hornets (109:106). Whereas they lost to Magic (116:124) and Heat (112:101). In their latest fixture against Hornets Wall led the team with 25 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds. Beal added 20 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds and we could see another 4 players finishing the game with double digits score (Gortat. Oubre, Smith, Porter).
Verdict & Prediction
Pistons do in fact have the same record in the last 5 games as their opponents (3.2), but that does not mean they are as strong as Wizards. Wizards have been solid in the past few games and with added home court advantage in this fixture, they are favourites in my eyes.
Prediction: Wizards +1.5
Odds: 1.94 Pinnacle
