Bettors Like Road Favorite Detroit Over Last Place Charlotte Bobcats
Team Page: Detroit :: Charlotte
77% of Bets Placed on PISTONS -4 | Matchup | NBA Picks
Tayshaun Prince is taking – and making – more shots than ever in his NBA career.
Prince looks to continue his emergence as a scoring presence for the Pistons (11-5) as they seek a ninth straight win when they visit the last-place Charlotte Bobcats (4-12) on Sunday.
Oddsmakers have made Detroit -4 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for todays game, the over/under has been set at 192.5 total points (View NBA Sports Books).
Prince equaled a career high with 31 points to lead the Pistons to a 108-100 home victory over New York on Friday night, giving Detroit its longest win streak since an 11-game run from Jan. 10-29 and an 8-1 mark against Eastern Conference teams.
“I just got hot,” said Prince, who made a career-high six 3-pointers on seven attempts. “Obviously, I was shooting it well.”
Prince has shot better than 58 percent in each of his last three meetings with Charlotte, including a 21-point performance in which he shot 9-for-14 in Detroit’s 104-95 home win on Nov. 24. It was the Pistons fifth straight win in the series, and sixth in eight games since the Bobcats entered the NBA in 2004-05.
Prince is averaging 20.0 points and 54.0 percent shooting during this eight-game winning streak. Detroit has scored at least 100 points six times in that stretch after reaching the mark twice while starting 3-5.
Prince is shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 52.0 percent on 3-pointers this season. He entered 2006-07 as a career 46.9 percent shooter, including a 35.8 success rate on 3s.
Prince is averaging career highs of 17.0 points and 13.3 shots per game.
“Tay put in a lot of hard work over the summer, but he’s always been a great shooter,” Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups said. “He’s just getting more shots now, so he can get into a rhythm and really get going.”
The Pistons hope Billups has regained his form after he had 22 points and a season-high 16 assists against the Knicks after scoring 11 points and committing a season-high five turnovers in Thursday’s win at Miami.
“I was horrible, and I needed to fix that,” Billups said. “I wanted to come out and be aggressive.”
The Bobcats, owners of the Eastern Conference’s worst record, might want to take that approach as they look to avoid a third straight loss.
Despite setting a season high for points in a half with 63 in the first half on Friday, Charlotte fell 121-109 at Washington for its fourth loss in five games.
Coach Bernie Bickerstaff pointed to one statistic: His team committed 22 turnovers, leading to 33 points.
“And, you know, the Wizards aren’t the type of team that puts a lot of pressure on you,” Bickerstaff said. “We’re the culprits.”
Adam Morrison scored 23 points against Washington on the day he was honored as the conference’s rookie of the month, and Brevin Knight added 22 points and nine assists.
The Pistons have won their last two visits to Charlotte after dropping the teams’ first two matchups there.
By: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
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