Detroit Pistons at Charlotte Hornets
Monday, November 2, 2026
7:30 PM ET, Spectrum Center
The Pistons are 4.5-point road favorites over the Hornets with the total at 210.5. My play is Pistons -4.5 (-102).
Eighty-one and 79. As of Friday night, those were the two lowest-scoring games anyone had played in the NBA this season, and the Hornets own both of them. Now they get the one defense in the league nobody has figured out, for the second time in less than a week.
Detroit’s defense is the best thing in basketball right now. The Pistons are 5-1, their best start through six games since 2015-16, and they’re doing it with defense. They give up 103.8 points per 100 possessions, the best mark in the league per Basketball Reference, and through Friday no opponent had shot better than 45.5% against them. They also force turnovers on 15.2% of opponent trips, which is a problem for a Charlotte team that already gives it away more than all but two teams. Detroit did all this without center Jalen Duren, who’s out with a hamstring strain. Paul Reed has filled in with 22 points in New York, 16 against Charlotte and 12 in Brooklyn.
We already saw the first meeting. Last Wednesday in Detroit, Charlotte led 51-44 at halftime and then got run over. The Pistons opened the third quarter on a 16-5 burst, forced eight turnovers in the quarter alone, and won 97-89 behind 30 points from Cade Cunningham. Charlotte turned it over 25 times. Brandon Miller scored 31 but missed five of his seven shots in the fourth quarter, and no other Hornet besides Dennis Schroder reached double figures.
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Charlotte’s offense is on life support. The Hornets rank dead last in offensive efficiency at 103.1 points per 100 possessions. They take more than half their shots from three and can’t make them consistently. Friday in Washington they went 12 of 56 from deep and shot 29.7% overall in a 95-79 loss. Kon Knueppel and Grant Williams are both out with hamstring strains. Miller is carrying a big load at 24.4 points a game, but he’s shooting 37.7% from the field to get there. Grayson Allen’s 27-point heater off the bench against Philadelphia on Saturday was fun, and it still ended in a loss, Charlotte’s third in a row.
The schedule helps Detroit too. The Pistons haven’t played since routing the Nets 110-94 on Friday, so they come in with two days off. Ron Holland II scored 12 straight points in that third quarter, a sign that this bench can win stretches on its own. Charlotte played Friday and Saturday, sat Sunday, and is now on a three-game skid. Detroit is 5-1 against the spread. Charlotte is 3-4.
Where it could go wrong. Low totals squeeze spreads. In a game projected around 210 points, every possession matters, and a 4.5-point number can vanish on one hot shooting stretch. The Hornets crash the offensive glass hard, grabbing 31.6% of their own misses, and that’s how they built their halftime lead in Detroit. Isaiah Joe is questionable with a hip contusion. Cunningham is shooting 33.3% from three. If Allen catches fire again or Miller has one of his big nights, this could come down to the final minute. The number holds for me through -5. At -5.5 or higher I’d pass.
Projected score: Pistons 108, Hornets 98. Detroit’s ball pressure produces another pile of Charlotte turnovers, and Cunningham closes it out in the fourth.
The Pick: Pistons -4.5 (-102)
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