Detroit at Milwaukee
Time: 7:30 PM ET
TV: NBA TV
Spread: DET -3
Total: 194
Betting odds c/o Bovada
The Detroit Pistons are getting it together as winners of seven of its past 10 games. The Pistons are 10-11 on the road, as well, which will bode well as the team travels to face a struggling Milwaukee Bucks squad.
The Bucks have lost its past two games and find themselves three-point underdogs to the Pistons. NBA odds also show the total set at 194 on oddsmaker Bovada.
Pistons GM and head coach Stan Van Gundy is revamping the Pistons defensive culture that it once thrived on. And that’s been an easier task with a dominant Andre Drummond emerging. In Drummond’s visit to Orlando on Dec. 30 (SVG’s return), he snatched 18 points in the first three quarters before sitting out the rest of a Pistons’ blowout win.
Drummond is too big, to strong, and too athletic for most NBA bigs to have any kind of chance against. Unless it is against the likes of Dwight Howard or DeAndre Jordan, Drummond will have access to every rebound. He’s currently averaging 13 per game, to go with 12.2 points and 2.74 blocks/steals per game.
Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings is playing with a renewed sense of urgency on the defensive end, and because a point guard is the “head of the snake” so to speak, it has become infectious, with an already above-average defender Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the backcourt.
The Pistons are able to employ more half court traps, and both Greg Monroe and Drummond are good pick and roll defenders. This seeming minutia is a key factor in the Pistons’ revival.
But the single biggest factor was being able to part ways with Josh Smith. Smith was a disruptive influence and took a lot of horrible shots. That takes teammates out of games, and the Pistons realized the mistake they made when Smith was signed to a max-deal.
Most analysts said there was no way Smith was worth that kind of contract; and well, they were all correct about that. Filling the “void” (the shots, in reality) that Smith left has been Jodie Meeks and D.J. Augustin. Both guards are capable of filling it up, and Meeks hit nine threes in the contest on Dec 30 vs Orlando.
Milwaukee sits at an even .500 on the season and is situated sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. The Bucks have benefitted from the quick progression of No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker, who played in nearby Chicago. Parker is posting about the league average for PER, but is scoring 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, and he’s playing passing lanes well, as indicated by his 1.2 steals per game.
The Bucks are not playing anyone big minutes, and are making great use of a deep bench. The Loss of Larry Sanders due to personal reasons hurts, but the Bucks are able to focus primarily on the growth of the “Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo and Parker, while also getting great production from point guard Brandon Knight.
Knight has averaged 18.2 points per game, while also snagging 4.2 boards and dishing out 5.1 assists per game. His 18.8 PER is the highest on the team, but every significant player in the Bucks rotation posts at least a 12, which is why the Bucks are more competitive than most expected them to be.
O.J. Mayo has been unable to recapture the brilliance he showed in his contract year in Milwaukee, but that maybe was to be expected.
The Bucks may not get another high draft pick this year, but Parker’s further development as well as Knight becoming a premier point guard, should be able to keep the team competitive in this mode for a while. As far as landing a big free agent and ascending to the status of contender, well, that just doesn’t happen in Brew town.
