’05 Finals Rematch
Last week, the Detroit Pistons were cruising to their season-high 11th straight win. Now, they’ll have to beat the defending NBA champions on the road to avoid their first three-game losing streak of 2007-08.
The Pistons visit San Antonio on Thursday for the teams’ first meeting this season, as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich takes his second shot at his 600th career win.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global have made San Antonio -3 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has been set at 180.5 total points (Matchup). Our public betting information shows that 63% of bets for this game have been placed on San Antonio -3 (View NBA Bet Percentages).
Since their streak in which they won each game by an average of nearly 17 points, the Pistons (26-9) have struggled. Detroit has shot just 39.9 percent from the field over the last two games while failing to score more than 86 points in either game against two of the league’s elite teams.
After a 92-85 home loss to Boston on Saturday, Detroit fell 102-86 at Dallas on Wednesday, allowing 100 points in a game for just the second time in the last 14. The Mavericks shot 56.8 percent, the highest of any Pistons opponent this season.
"Always when you’re playing at a high level, you’re always concerned at some point about a little let-up," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. "You can have a let-up, you cannot play well, but it shouldn’t affect your effort. I didn’t think we gave a consistent effort."
The Pistons also allowed Dallas to shoot 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from 3-point range, the best by an opponent this season.
Detroit hadn’t lost two straight since Nov. 16-18, and they only lost three consecutive games once last season.
It won’t get any easier against the Spurs (23-10), even though San Antonio is just 6-7 in its last 13 games. The Spurs are 17-2 at the AT&T Center – the league’s best home mark – as they begin a four-game homestand.
San Antonio gave up 18 points in overtime on Monday, falling on the road to Golden State 130-121. Tim Duncan had 32 points and 13 rebounds and Tony Parker added 31 points, but the Warriors were 14-of-31 from beyond the arc.
"I thought our effort was great, and in the end we got beat from the 3-point line,” said Popovich, who is 599-286 in 12 seasons in San Antonio. "They did a good job knocking down those shots, and hit a couple in overtime.
"We did a great job, and Golden State did a little bit better job. They earned it."
Duncan has dominated the Pistons at home throughout his career. He’s recorded double-doubles in all 10 regular-season games, averaging 20.3 points and 13.2 rebounds in leading San Antonio to a 9-1 record.
Parker, who finished one point short of his season high on Wednesday, is averaging 15.1 points in 12 career games against the Pistons.
San Antonio’s opponents average just 92.5 points this season, third-lowest in the NBA behind Detroit and Boston. As a result, the Pistons and Spurs typically don’t allow many points when they meet. They’ve split the last four meetings while averaging 164 points combined.
By: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
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