NBA - 653 Minnesota Timberwolves @ 654 Detroit Pistons
Projected Line: Minnesota by 3 points | 199 points
***ADDED PLAY***
Minnesota is definitely playing much better basketball than Detroit right now and even though we are talking about a team that is 8-27 on the road, I believe the Wolves should be favored on this contest. Detroit had a phase where they were competitive, but that hasn't been happening lately due to some atrocious defense. They are averaging a defensive rating of 117.4 since the All Star break and that's simply absurd! Greg Monroe has stopped defending, while the Pistons's perimeter defense has been even worse. Not only Detroit is currently the worst 3pts defensive team in the league since the All Star break with 42.5% 3pts allowed, as their pick and roll ball handler defense is currently non-existent! Detroit has been poor all season long on defending pick and rolls by being #23 in the league with 0.83 PPP allowed, but they numbers since the All Star got even worse! They simply couldn't stop Kemba Walker on their last game, who ended the contest with 10-20 FG and 25 points!
The struggles of the Pistons's defense are obviously good news for Minnesota, who has a healthy Ricky Rubio to torch Detroit's defense tonight. I expect the Wolves's backcourt to dominate this game. Jose Calderon has no foot speed to defend Minnesota's guards, while Brandon Knight returned from injury on the team's last game against the Bobcats, but he looked completely out of form with 4-10 FG, 4 assists and 5 turnovers! On the frontcourt, the duel will be interesting, but I don't expect Minnesota to get outplayed on this area. Detroit is now rotating more their players and in some moments on their game at Charlotte, the Pistons played with Jonas Jerebko and Charlie Villanueva together on the frontcourt. This also helps to explain why Detroit is struggling on defense so much right now. On the other side, Minnesota with Nikola Pekovic and Andrei Kirilenko should have talent on the frontcourt to handle Detroit down low, while the Wolves's superior backcourt should make the difference on this game. Therefore, I'll be taking Minnesota tonight and the Over in a shootout contest.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 653 Minnesota Timberwolves (PK) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker
ADDED PLAY:
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 653/654 Over 195 @ -115 / 1.87 on Bovada
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