Detroit Pistons (12-5) at New Orleans Hornets (12-6), 8 pm Eastern Wednesday
by Zman of Predictem.com
One of the beasts of the East takes on one of the better teams in the West when the Detroit Pistons battle the New Orleans Hornets Wednesday night in the Crescent City.
NBA Sportsbooks list Detroit as a one-point road favorite for Tuesday’s game, with a total of 190. Also, the Pistons are listed at around -115 on the moneyline, with New Orleans getting +105 as home underdogs.
Detroit has won its last four games, and comfortably, by an average of almost 24 points per, after beating Atlanta Tuesday night 106-95. In doing so, the Pistons stretched their lead in the Central Division to 3 1/2-games over the second-place Milwaukee Bucks. Detroit has shot better than 50% from the field in each of its last four games, and out-rebounded each of its last four opponents.
New Orleans has won three of its last four game after beating Dallas Saturday in overtime 112-108. So the Hornets are tied for second place in the Southwest Division, three games back of first-place San Antonio.
These two teams split their two games last season, with the Pistons winning in New Orleans by 24 points and the Hornets winning in Detroit by one point. But the Pistons shot 49% from the floor in those two games together, and held New Orleans to 39% shooting. And Detroit has won five of the last six games in the series with the Hornets.
This season, the Pistons are 9-8 against the spread, 6-4 straight up and 5-5 ATS on the road, while New Orleans is 10-7 vs. the numbers, and 4-4 both SU and against the spread at home.
Detroit is shooting 48% from the field as a team this season, 37% from 3-point range and 74% from the free-throw line. Also, the Pistons rank 3rd in the league with a +8.2 average points-per-game margin, 2nd in the league with a 2.1 team assist-to-turnover ratio, and 9th with a +1.8 rebounds-per-game margin.
The Hornets are shooting 44% from the floor, 39% from long range and 79% from the line. Also, New Orleans ranks 11th with a +3.5 ppg margin, 17th in rebounding at -.2 per game, and 9th with a 1.58 A/TO ratio.
The Sagarin PREDICTOR ratings at USAToday.com ranks Detroit 5th at 95.5, the Hornets 8th at 93.5.
The o/u is 10-7 in Pistons games this season, which are averaging 194 points per, while the totals are 7-11 in New Orleans games, which are averaging 190 points.
Zman’s Pick: Take the Hornets at a pick’em.
