NBA - 509 Toronto Raptors @ 510 Detroit Pistons
Projected Line: Toronto by 2 points
Detroit was very competitive during the first half on their last game in Orlando, but then they started the second half with a 0-18 run and nothing went their way during the second half. After the game, all hell broke lose between the coach and the players.
"If I was coach, I would have made the decision sooner than what he did," Tayshaun Prince said in the Amway Center visitors’ locker room. Know what I mean?
After saying he wished Singler were still on the second unit because he enjoyed playing with him, Will Bynum told the Free Press: "I’m having to adjust to everybody. I’m playing with so many different people. First I go from not playing with (Rodney) Stuckey to playing with Stuckey every day. I go from playing with Kyle all the time to never playing with Kyle. I’m playing with Tayshaun (Prince). Early on I was playing with Brandon (Knight) and I never played with him in two years since I’ve been here. It’s all over the place right now."
Detroit was able to dominate the first half with Greg Monroe having a good performance, but then Orlando started forcing Detroit to take shots from the outside and they are simply terrible at that, so they ended up shooting a terrible 4-25 FG on spot ups!
Toronto is coming from a loss in Charlotte, in a game where they were on a terrible spot and they still only lost by one point and due to a ball call in the last play of the game! The Bobcats were only able to score via their guards attacking the rim, as Byron Mullens was quite poor. The Raptors did very well in dominating both Byron Mullens and Brendan Haywood, as Andrea Bargnani shot 9-17 FG and Jonas Valanciunas 8-11 FG! Toronto played with a clearly bigger lineup than Charlotte and they still got outrebounded, however I believe that was just a sign of their terrible spot on that game, where they were playing their fourth game in just five days!
It seems clear to me that Detroit is on a bad mood for this game, with some problems between their coach and the plays. I like Toronto's matchup in here with Kyle Lowry and Jose Calderon, as Detroit was terrible in defending pick and rolls and cuts against Orlando. In fact, Detroit is #28 in defending pick and roll ball handler with 0.9 PPP allowed and #24 in defending cuts and with Toronto having Kyle Lowry back, they are a good team in taking advantage of these defensive struggles of their opponents. Toronto is #10 in pick and roll ball handler with 0.72 PPP, but if we only count the games where Lowry played, the Raptors are #7 with 0.83 PPP! I wouldn't also be surprised if the Raptors use some zone defense to limit Detroit's interior offense (especially Greg Monroe) and with the Pistons having such a terrible outside shooting, this would lead to their self-destruction. I like Toronto in here for the upset and I'll be taking them in here.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 509 Toronto Raptors (+2) @ -110 / 1.91 on 5Dimes
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