Nets Look to Keep Rolling vs Hapless Pistons

The Detroit Pistons take on the Brooklyn Nets for the second time this season on Saturday night. The Pistons won the first matchup between these teams 122-111 on February 9th. The Pistons enter Saturday with just one win in their last six, while the Nets have gone 11-1 since losing to Detroit last month.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The game opened with the Nets as 11.5-point favorites and the line is locked in at that number with even odds on either side of the number. The total opened at 228 and has stayed there at most books, with 228.5 popping up in a couple of places. The OVER is the favorite at some books with even odds at most of them.

Detroit News & Notes

The Detroit Pistons have been terrible this season with just ten wins in 37 games as they sit dead last in the Eastern Conference. There are not many bright spots, even as you dig a little deeper into the team, as they rank toward to bottom of the league for most stats at both ends of the court.

Only three teams have a lower field goal percentage, only seven have a lower three-point percentage and only five teams have worse rebounding numbers. They commit turnovers at a high rate, they don’t get many steals or block and they even rank toward the bottom in free throw percentage. In short, the team is a mess.

One of the few bright spots for the team this season is forward Jerami Grant who has exploded this season offensively averaging a career-high 23.7 points per game. Grant’s previous career high was 13.6 two years ago. Grant led both teams with 32 points when the Pistons beat Brooklyn back in February.

Brooklyn News & Notes

Maybe the most impressive part of Brooklyn’s 11-1 run over the last five weeks or so is that they have done it without superstar forward Kevin Durant. Durant has played in just one game since February 5th as he deals with a hamstring injury. There is no timetable for his return.

The roster has changed in the last month with Durant out as the Nets acquired forward Blake Griffin from Detroit. Griffin has not played in a month either and will not make his Nets debut against his former team as he has been ruled out for this game.

James Harden and Kyrie Irving continue to lead the team without Durant in the mix, with both averaging more than 25 points per game. With those two superstars at the helm, it should not be surprising that the Nets are the best shooting team in the league. They are the only team in the league with a 50% field goal percentage or above, are second in the league in three-point percentage and sixth in free throw percentage.