NBA - 705 Detroit Pistons @ 706 New York Knicks
Projected Line: 201 points
Andre Drummond and Will Bynum has been developing a great chemistry by coming off the bench together with some deathly pick and rolls. When Bynum shoots, Drummond uses his insane athleticism to grab potential offensive rebound opportunities or we get some nice passes from Bynum, who have been resulting in alley hoops! On a game like yesterday's, where they matched up against the slow footed Pau Gasol and Steve Nash, these two players from Detroit basically got their team back into the game on their own, after being down by 18 points during the second half! Will Bynum had 9-18 FG and 10 assists in 29 minutes, while Andre Drummond had 4-10 FG and 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes! Detroit didn't win the game at the end because Bynum ran out of gas down the stretch or we would have watched another late choke from the Lakers! Offensively, the LA team did whatever they wanted with the Pistons's defense thanks to the great passes from Nash to Gasol, but their defense showed once again how vulnerable they are against opposing guards that have nice dribble penetration skills.
After three straight games, where the Knicks's offense was subpar with 85, 89 and 80 points scored, the NY team's offense exploded once again on their last 3 games! Due to the slow pace of their games, that hasn't been very visible on the scoreboard, but in terms of efficiency, they have had 139.3, 111.8 and 133.4 offensive rates on their last 3 games! Raymond Felton's return has been the key for this nice run, especially thanks to the chemistry he has with the team's frontcourt. On the early season, he was showing great chemistry with Tyson Chandler and now, he is doing the same with Amare Stoudemire: big dunks off cuts, driving dunks off the dribble, baby hooks and transition sprints (10-10 FG against Sacramento!). We know that the Knicks are back when they attempted 34, 35 and 43 treys on their last 3 games! The good news for them is that they made 14, 13 and 19 of those shots, for a nice 41% 3pts mark!
With the Knicks showing this offensive fluidity, it will be tough for the Pistons to stop them! Yesterday, the Lakers had a nice offensive game against Detroit due to their good ball movement and spot up shooting, but they faded away in the second half, as they were tired thanks to their 8-man rotation! That won't happen with the Knicks, who have JR Smith, Steve Novak and Amare Stoudemire coming off the bench! Detroit's offense has been showing a bigger commitment in running in transition and they have allowed 17.4 fast break points over their last 5 games. Of course they still shoot a lot at the rim with 35% volume and on this specific area, the Knicks only have Tyson Chandler to protect the paint, so no wonder that the Knicks are one of the worst teams in the league in protecting the rim with 67% FG allowed!
In the two previous games between these two teams this season, the Knicks won the first by 121-100, with an insane outside shooting night (17-33 3pts)! Their last game was in London, where the Knicks had a decent offensive game even without Felton, but Detroit struggled with 11-22 FT and with Monroe shooting just 4-12 FG and committing 4 turnovers. With the Knicks showing good ball movement and having a good spot tonight, I expect them to have another big offensive game against a Pistons's defense that has been struggling. Detroit's offense should also have a clear edge down low, therefore I expect this game to be a high scoring game. I'll be taking the Over on this contest.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 705/706 Over 197 @ -110 / 1.91 on 5Dimes
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