Jeff Allen NBA Game Preview: Detroit at Boston
Two Eastern Conference teams on the rise lock horns tonight at TD Garden Arena in Boston as the Detroit Pistons
meet the Celtics. The 26-23 Pistons have split their L10 games but are in good shape considering seven of their
L9 have been on the road. Motown is currently sitting in seventh place in the ultra-competitive back eight of the Eastern
Conference just 1.5 games back of the Celtics who at 28-22 sit third. The game opened at Boston -4 and 210. At
this writing, the Celts are -3.5 with a deluge of money on the under dropping the high/low to 207 1/2.
The Pistons do not get a whole lot of TV time but the next time you have the opportunity, check out Andre Drummond …
the league’s next dominant big man. At 6’11 and 280 of chiseled granit, Drummond is a double-double machine
averaging 17.5 ppg. and pulling down 15.1 boards per. He plays great defense and if he could ever figure out how
to shoot foul shots would be a monster. Reggie Jackson leads the team in scoring at 19.1 while dishing out 6.3
assists per game. Big props to Stan Van Gundy who has made this hodge podge of no-names competitive in no time
flat.
Boston is a very similar story to the Pistons. Danny Ainge hit paydirt by rolling the dice and bringing in Brad Stevens from
Butler to coach this team and it’s paid dividends from the start. The Celts get most of their scoring from the point. Isiah
Thomas, a super trade deadline pickup from Phoenix last year has been money scoring 21.5 ppg. while dishing out 6.6
dimes on a nightly basis. Avery Bradley (14.7) is a solid combo guard. Jae Crowder from Marquette is a defensive stopper
that scores and rebounds. Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger were big name college players that become serviceable at the
next level under Stevens.
Tonight’s spot really favors Boston. The Celtics have won six of seven overall and are 4-1 in their L5 as a home favorite.
They routinely dispatched the Knicks last night and have thrived on the back end of back-to-backs going 7-4 ATS this
year and 34-14 ATS under Stevens. The Pistons are 3-2 SU and ATS in their L5 visits here and just an 11-15 ATS proposition
on the road. A way to look could be the over as the Pistons are on a 9-1-2 run on the high side over their L12 and Motown
is also 30-15 over in their L45 vs. Atlantic division opponents.