A potential preview of the NBA Finals takes place Thursday night in San Antonio when the reigning NBA champion Spurs host the team with the NBA's second-best record, the Pistons, with Detroit a 4-point underdog on WagerWeb.com.
The Pistons would seem to have the odds stacked against them tonight against Tim Duncan and Co.
Detroit must play on back-to-back nights and is coming off its worst loss of the season, 102-86 to Dallas.
The Mavericks shot 56.8 percent, the highest of any Pistons opponent this season. The Pistons also allowed Dallas to shoot 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from 3-point range, the best by an opponent this season.
A loss against San Antonio would be the Pistons' first three-game slide of the season - this coming after an 11-game winning streak.
The Spurs own the NBA's best home record at 17-2 and have the third-best scoring defense in the NBA, allowing only 92.5 points per game. However, San Antonio also is coming off a bad loss, allowing a season-high 130 points Monday night against Golden State. It was just the fourth time this season that the Spurs allowed more than 100 points.Detroit has shot just 39.9 percent from the field over the last two games while failing to score more than 86 points - although that was against top teams Dallas and Boston. Detroit is 13-6 on the road this season, with five of the losses coming against Western Conference foes.
The Pistons and Spurs have split the last four meetings while averaging 164 points combined. But Detroit has lost nine of 10 and 15 of its last 18 at San Antonio.
These teams, of course, met in the 2005 NBA Finals, with the Spurs winning an ugly 4-3 series. This will be their first meeting of this season, and San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is one win shy of No. 600.
San Antonio is just 6-7 in its past 13 games.
SUNS' NASH OUT THURSDAY? Already without starting forward Grant Hill for at least 2 weeks due to an appendectomy, Phoenix may be without two-time league MVP Steve Nash for Thursday's game at Utah.
Nash sat out the final 22 minutes, 18 seconds of Phoenix's 129-122 overtime victory over Indiana on Wednesday due to the stomach flu. He was clearly feeling the effects, as he had just nine points and four assists before leaving the game.
Nash didn't travel with the team to Utah, but there's a chance he may rejoin the Suns before this game.
Phoenix has won six of their past seven, but only one of the victories has come against a team with a winning record. And the Suns are only 2-6 against the top Western Conference teams.
Utah is a 5.5-point favorite for Thursday's game on WagerWeb.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment