Detroit Pistons at Washington Wizards
Time: 7 PM CT (ESPN)
Spread: WAS -1.5
Total: 208.5
Betting odds c/o 5dimes
The Detroit Pistons currently occupy the No. 8 position in the Eastern Conference. The Washington Wizards, meanwhile, are 3.5 games behind Detroit and have lost five straight games. As the Pistons gain momentum, the wheels seem to be coming off in Washington. Even so, the Wizards are 1.5 point favorites in this game which will air at 7 Central on ESPN.
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Detroit has won seven of its past 10 games and is coming off a 125-111 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday (Mar 12) night. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 23 points and new acquisition Tobias Harris came up big with 21 points, as well. All five Pistons starters scored 19 points or more, with Marcus Morris leading the way in minutes played with a 40 minute effort that saw him reel up 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The Pistons now seem to have struck a balance, with every part perfectly functioning in its proper role. Andre Drummond still leads the league in rebounding and had 15 rebounds (three offensive) in that win over the Sixers.
Drummond has averaged 15.1 points, 15.7 rebounds and two blocks/steals per game in the Pistons last 10 games, and his season average of 15 rebounds per game is a career high. Drummond averages 3.0 steals/blocks per game on the season and he made his first All-Star appearance this season. Drummond has shot 52.3 percent from the field, but his free throw percentage is a consistent source of concern. Teams have been playing “Hack a Drummond,” and doing it with success— he is shooting an unfathomably bad 35.9 percent from the stripe.
The Pistons also may be getting some help from Jodie Meeks who has finally returned from his broken foot injury. Meeks is a court spacer and the Pistons need some shooting that he can now inject into the lineup. Detroit averages 9.0 made threes per game on 34.3 percent team shooting.
The Pistons have five players this season averaging double figures, and Harris has thrived since joining the Pistons. In his 12 games (10 starts) he has averaged 17.7 points, six rebounds and two assists per game while playing 34 minutes a night. A criticism of Scott Skiles in Orlando had been that he was misusing Harris, who had just received a lucrative contract extension last summer. The Magic seemingly gave up early on Tobias, but that has only benefitted the Pistons.
SB Nation said of the move, “This may be the deal that we look back and say made the Pistons contenders.” That seems like lofty praise, but Detroit’s recent play bears that it may be true. The Pistons sacrificed little more than Ersan Ilyasova and an expiring Brandon Jennings contract, as Orlando made the cap-clearing moves it wanted to at the NBA trade deadline.
The Wizards really have shot themselves in the foot by losing their last five games. Losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets have left Washington five games below .500 and a long-shot to make the 2016 postseason. Granted, four of those five losses came to playoff teams, but of what consequence is that when the Wizards are 16-17 at home this year? The losses to Cleveland and Indiana at home especially hurt, given that the Wiz would have been chasing the Pacers in the East.
At this point, the Wizards need to re-tool its roster, maybe rethinking the decision to re-sign Bradley Beal, who is sure to command max money this offseason. John Wall can only work with what is on the roster, and despite how well he works with Marcin Gortat in the pick and roll, the Wizards need another major scorer.
Perhaps that was the thought when the team drafted Kelly Oubre Jr, but he has played sparingly this season, seeing mostly garbage time. The loss of Paul Pierce may have affected things more than anticipated, too. The Wizards now have no one outside Wall that can be isolated late in games, and yes, Pierce was still good for that.
Washington will look to draft a major scorer in the draft, but the fact that the pick will come late in the lottery makes finding a franchise defining talent unlikely. Even when the team spent a No. 3 overall pick on Otto Porter, the Wizards were not expecting a franchise talent there either. Porter has become a very good role player, a “three and D” guy, but the fact that he cost a No. 3 overall pick highlights that having a top-3 pick does not always require drafting a superstar, particularly in a weak class like the 2013 group.
The Wizards are in a strange position as a limbo team, very good last year and not so great with mostly the same roster this year. Retooling is in order, but as to how Wizards brass will go about doing that remains to be seen.
