Just twelve days after losing in Detroit, the Milwaukee Bucks will get the first chance of returning the favor to the visiting Pistons when two playoff hopeful division rival meet on Wednesday evening. This time, they’ll show a fresh face, Eric Bledsoe, who is yet to lose in the Bucks uniform.
Pistons at Bucks
Spread: Milwaukee -3.5 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 208 points (-110)
The Pistons enjoy home cooking
After winning all five games in the new arena, it’s safe to say that the Pistons have enjoyed the change. Despite not changing up the roster much, they’ve had the best start to the season since the glory years. The Pistons are 10-3 and playing with confidence. Now, after three well earned days of rest, a new challenge begins for this team. No taking anything from their success, the 112-103 victory over the Miami Heat was their eight-game at home. They now have to prove that they can sustain this level of performance on the road, where a 3-2 score doesn’t mean much.
The game against the Heat followed the same script as some of the previous wins. The Pistons leaned on their strengths and used consistent play to come out on top. It was not an easy game, as Miami is a very decent opponent, but the win was even sweeter like that. The usual levers gave the advantage to Detroit. Tobias Harris was 8-of-15 and 5-of-8 from the three to score game-high 25 points. Bradley followed with 24 points and Jackson, Ish Smith and Luke Kennard all scored in double digits to round up a good night from the backcourt. With the outside shots falling – Detroit was 14-of-28 from beyond the arc – and devoted work on the glass (54-39), the Pistons overcame a 2nd-half 11-point deficit to win rather comfortably at the end. Drummond was just 3-of-8 from the field and scored just 8 points, but he let his presence be felt by taking 17 rebounds and even dishing four assists.
The Pistons were a bit shorthanded, playing without forwards Jon Leuer and Stanley Johnson, both of whom are questionable to dress in Milwaukee. The fortunate schedule is about to reverse for the Pistons – they play 9 out of the next 11 games away from home, beginning and ending with a trip to Wisconsin.
Place: BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 15th, 2017. 8:00 PM ET
TV Coverage: Fox Sports Wisconsin, Fox Sports Detroit
The Bucks overcome a slow start to top Grizzlies
It’s been all rainbows and unicorns for the Milwaukee Bucks since they’ve decided to trade for Eric Bledsoe, as they managed to turn a four-game losing streak into three wins in a row. But, not to mislead you, the streak has more with a lucky timing than it had an actual impact on the floor.
On Monday, the Bucks won 110-103 over the Memphis Grizzlies in an up a down game. Neither team was very consistent, allowing runs and making their own. Giannis Antetokounmpo was again the focal point of their game, scoring 27 points and adding 9 boards and 7 dimes (along with good defense) in 44 minutes. Middleton and Henson had 17 points apiece, and Bledsoe added 15 as the shots would fall from all distances for the Milwaukee Bucks team. They shot 49 percent from the field and hit 12-of-22 three-pointers. For once, they didn’t forget to get to the line either, and kept turnovers and foul under control. Defensively, they were very solid. Couldn’t stop Evans for the love of God, but nobody else had since this season started. After allowing 36 points in the second quarter and falling behind by 10, they’ve turned it around and gave up just 12 points in the third. It was a momentum changer that carried over to the fourth quarter. Henson scored six points in the final 3:08 and Memphis went 1 of 8 during that stretch, getting only a bucket from Brooks with 16 seconds remaining to pull the Grizzlies within five.
Bledsoe played despite being called questionable prior to the game due to some bone bruise. Teletovic didn’t play in the last three games.
Detroit Pistons at Milwaukee Bucks Game Trends & Prediction
The Detroit Pistons have been money against the spread, almost matching their straight-up production with a 9-3-1 overall record. On the road, they are 4-1, which is also a very fine ratio. By the help of four consecutive overs, the Pistons O/U record now stands at 8-5 for the season. The Pistons outscore their opposition by 5.3 points on average.
The Milwaukee Bucks are not very kind to the industry. They’ve had multiple ups and downs this season, and we’ve only reached mid-November. The last three wins also provided against the spread, but these followed a string of four games with no payout. They are losing by an about a point on average, which is not close to what was expected of them. Considering all this, 6-5-2 ATS record doesn’t sound too bad. They rarely offer any value on the total market as well, where they’ve gone 7-6 overall and 3-4 at home, but when it comes to playing Pistons, the recent games tend to stay below the number – out of the last 7, under happened on five occasions.
Admi-Rank: I’ve been preaching the Pistons surge since the season started, but they are still not in the top tier of teams, held by the fact that their trophy room doesn’t have too many big wins and that they mostly played at home. The Bucks will present a true test, even though they can only be considered as an average NBA team at this point.
Winning in Milwaukee would be huge for the Stones. Not only would they extended their win streak to 6 and send out a message to the rest of the league (or East, at least), but they would also guarantee a tie in season series with Bucks, and it’s not a thing to be ignored when thinking about the playoffs. In the first meeting between the two sides, the Pistons used Andre Drummond to their advantage and the Bucks struggles to find balance on the free throws attempted, but it’s a tight advantage to feel comfortable about, especially as Kidd emphasized solving it recently.
Spread for this game is 3.5 points, with the host dubbed as a favorite. It’s a continuation of underrating what has been a very consistent and valiant effort made by Pistons, and hoping that the market would go after a superstar. Yes, there’s a concern regarding the Pistons game away from home, but nothing we saw so far has suggested that it would simply collapse without the home fans support. On the other hand, the Bucks are not living up to expectations, and this gives me another layer of confidence to take the visiting side. It’s not a massive value, but it’s enough to take it. If you believe that the early money flow will go towards the host, you can wait for the game day and try to get +4. The totals had been set at 208 when the market opened – that’s about right. I’m going with 206 for this game, so there’s not going to be enough space to play the total points.
My Pick: Detroit +3.5 (-110)
Total: (no total points wager here)
