NBA Premium Play 02/09: Detroit Pistons @ Milwaukee BucksNBA - 507 Detroit Pistons @ 508 Milwaukee Bucks Projected Line: 208 points | Milwaukee by 3 points I watched Detroit's game last night against San Antonio and I quickly realized why we never had a shot of winning our play on the Under. It had to do with Detroit's style, as they played with an uptempo style, but at the same time with great flow. Of course the Spurs were soft, they were surprised to see the Pistons playing at a different style than usual, but Detroit's offense always attacked early on the shotclock and showed a great ball movement. Jose Calderon is starting to be a factor on the team and he had 8 assists and 0 turnovers, while putting the ball very well down low on Greg Monroe, who had 9-16 FG and 16 rebounds! Besides that, Brandon Knight looked super comfortable in playing off guard and it is seeming that it is the best position for him. Of course Calderon was dominated by Tony Parker on the defensive end, as the French player had 10-16 FG, 11-12 FT and 31 points, but who isn't dominated by Parker nowadays? "This is the way we have to play, we have to be better defensively but we have to play an uptempo game," Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. "We have to take advantage of a two-headed monster at all times. It's something that we're learning. Our guys are starting to figure it out." Detroit shot 26-44 FG in the first half, while making 13 FG shots at the paint, 7 treys and just 6 midrange shots. If Detroit had Andre Drummond playing right now, they would be a very interesting team from now on. On the other hand, San Antonio was dominated on rebounds by grabbing just 41% of the rebounds and getting outrebounded in the offensive boards by 9-15! Detroit shot 24-35 (69%) FG at the rim and this was the first game where the Spurs really missed Tim Duncan, as Tiago Splitter is very far from being a good defensive players and of course, Boris Diaw can't help that much. So, when Coach Popovich puts Matt Bonner and DeJuan Blair playing for almost 20 minutes, San Antonio's defense will have problems on their defense from now on. I believe Detroit's offense will play another good game tonight, as this new uptempo style is quite effective for them, as with Jose Calderon on court, they commit a low number of turnovers. They had 26 assists and 12 turnovers on last night's game, while they also had a nice 28/14 A/TO ratio against Brooklyn, however they struggled by shooting just 3-17 3pts. Milwaukee is a team that plays on an uptempo style like the Spurs and so, Detroit's offense will be fine despite this is a back to back game for them. The Bucks have been struggling a lot on transition defense lately and they are already #23 in the league on this area by allowing 1.17 PPP this season, 1.25 PPP over their last 10 games and 1.35 over their last 5 games! Detroit has scored 22, 20, 22, 17 and 15 fast break points over their last 5 games, so they have a clear edge on this area tonight. Of course Milwaukee will be in bounce back mode, after getting crushed on their last two games at Denver and Utah, but this isn't a great spot at all for them. They are returning game after road games in altitude. Luc Mbah a Moute and Larry Sanders are both banged up and Sanders is especially a key factor for Milwaukee. "I moved around a little bit and got some of the stiffness out," Larry Sanders said. "It's still sore. I'll just play it by ear. I'll know more about it in the morning. See how I'm feeling. See how I'm moving." With Sanders not being at 100% physically and with Samuel Dalembert having to play big minutes, Greg Monroe should have a field day tonight. This game will be the final game of this series between these two teams and Detroit leads it by 2-1. The last game played between these two teams was played at the end of January, with Milwaukee crushing the Pistons at Detroit by 117-90. The Pistons started the game by outscoring the Bucks by 28-19 in the first quarter, but then they were outscored by 62-98 in the following three quarters of the game. This game was played prior to the trade that saw they land Calderon, where Brandon Knight are the team's starting PG and someone who is a team's main PG has 3 assists and 4 turnovers, that team doesn't stand a chance of winning (18 assists and 21 turnovers). Things are completely different now and so, I expect Detroit to be competitive in here on a high scoring game. Therefore, I'll be taking both the Pistons and the Over tonight. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 507/508 Over 204 @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 507 Detroit Pistons (+7) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA - 507 Detroit Pistons @ 508 Milwaukee Bucks

Projected Line: 208 points | Milwaukee by 3 points

I watched Detroit's game last night against San Antonio and I quickly realized why we never had a shot of winning our play on the Under. It had to do with Detroit's style, as they played with an uptempo style, but at the same time with great flow. Of course the Spurs were soft, they were surprised to see the Pistons playing at a different style than usual, but Detroit's offense always attacked early on the shotclock and showed a great ball movement. Jose Calderon is starting to be a factor on the team and he had 8 assists and 0 turnovers, while putting the ball very well down low on Greg Monroe, who had 9-16 FG and 16 rebounds! Besides that, Brandon Knight looked super comfortable in playing off guard and it is seeming that it is the best position for him. Of course Calderon was dominated by Tony Parker on the defensive end, as the French player had 10-16 FG, 11-12 FT and 31 points, but who isn't dominated by Parker nowadays?

"This is the way we have to play, we have to be better defensively but we have to play an uptempo game," Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. "We have to take advantage of a two-headed monster at all times. It's something that we're learning. Our guys are starting to figure it out."

Detroit shot 26-44 FG in the first half, while making 13 FG shots at the paint, 7 treys and just 6 midrange shots. If Detroit had Andre Drummond playing right now, they would be a very interesting team from now on. On the other hand, San Antonio was dominated on rebounds by grabbing just 41% of the rebounds and getting outrebounded in the offensive boards by 9-15! Detroit shot 24-35 (69%) FG at the rim and this was the first game where the Spurs really missed Tim Duncan, as Tiago Splitter is very far from being a good defensive players and of course, Boris Diaw can't help that much. So, when Coach Popovich puts Matt Bonner and DeJuan Blair playing for almost 20 minutes, San Antonio's defense will have problems on their defense from now on.

I believe Detroit's offense will play another good game tonight, as this new uptempo style is quite effective for them, as with Jose Calderon on court, they commit a low number of turnovers. They had 26 assists and 12 turnovers on last night's game, while they also had a nice 28/14 A/TO ratio against Brooklyn, however they struggled by shooting just 3-17 3pts. Milwaukee is a team that plays on an uptempo style like the Spurs and so, Detroit's offense will be fine despite this is a back to back game for them. The Bucks have been struggling a lot on transition defense lately and they are already #23 in the league on this area by allowing 1.17 PPP this season, 1.25 PPP over their last 10 games and 1.35 over their last 5 games! Detroit has scored 22, 20, 22, 17 and 15 fast break points over their last 5 games, so they have a clear edge on this area tonight.

Of course Milwaukee will be in bounce back mode, after getting crushed on their last two games at Denver and Utah, but this isn't a great spot at all for them. They are returning game after road games in altitude. Luc Mbah a Moute and Larry Sanders are both banged up and Sanders is especially a key factor for Milwaukee. 

"I moved around a little bit and got some of the stiffness out," Larry Sanders said. "It's still sore. I'll just play it by ear. I'll know more about it in the morning. See how I'm feeling. See how I'm moving."

With Sanders not being at 100% physically and with Samuel Dalembert having to play big minutes, Greg Monroe should have a field day tonight. This game will be the final game of this series between these two teams and Detroit leads it by 2-1. The last game played between these two teams was played at the end of January, with Milwaukee crushing the Pistons at Detroit by 117-90. The Pistons started the game by outscoring the Bucks by 28-19 in the first quarter, but then they were outscored by 62-98 in the following three quarters of the game. This game was played prior to the trade that saw they land Calderon, where Brandon Knight are the team's starting PG and someone who is a team's main PG has 3 assists and 4 turnovers, that team doesn't stand a chance of winning (18 assists and 21 turnovers). Things are completely different now and so, I expect Detroit to be competitive in here on a high scoring game. Therefore, I'll be taking both the Pistons and the Over tonight.

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 507/508 Over 204 @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 507 Detroit Pistons (+7) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker