Pistons vs. Raptors Point Spread: NBA Odds, Prediction
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Jeremy Perry
It’ll be a reunion of sorts on Wednesday when the Detroit Pistons face the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors fired coach Dwane Casey in the offseason – after he was named Head Coach of the Year – and he was promptly hired by the Pistons. The two teams are in different places right now through roughly one month of the NBA season as everyone is wondering if the Pistons can take the next step forward and if the Raptors can maintain their current pace.
NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Pistons are 5-7 against the spread this season, 6-6 straight up, after losing at home to the Charlotte Hornets. Detroit averages 110.1 points per game but is struggling on defence, allowing 111.3 points per game. The loss to Charlotte fit the defensive pattern for Detroit, which allowed 113 in a 10-point loss.
The Raptors are 7-6-1 against the spread this season, 12-2 straight up, following a surprising and lopsided home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Raptors allowed 126 points to cause their defensive average to balloon to 109.4 points per game, near the Pistons’ average. Toronto still averages several points more than Detroit does. Whereas the Pistons are at 110.1 points scored per contest, Toronto is at 117.4.
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons’ bench was destroyed by Charlotte’s bench, 50 points to 23, in the 113-103 loss to the Hornets. Tony Parker scored 24 points off the bench to spark the Hornets, who hit 51 percent of their field goals while Detroit slumped to just 37 percent from the floor. Andre Drummond scored 23 points and hauled in 22 rebounds for the Pistons, but Blake Griffin had a terrible game, hitting just 4 of 16 shots and finishing with only 10 points in 30 minutes.
The Pistons cannot find alternative routes to victory in coach Dwane Casey’s first return to Toronto since the Raptors fired him last season, despite being NBA Coach of the Year. Griffin has to be the leader of this team. It can’t be different – not against a high-level opponent which sits at the top of the Eastern Conference, 1.5 games ahead of 10-3 Milwaukee.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors entered their recent game against the New Orleans Pelicans with a 12-1 record. Their only loss was in Milwaukee to the Bucks, who have been very strong this season. They had been 7-0 straight up at home. They had won six games in a row, their second six-game winning streak of the young season. No one was expecting them to stumble against the Pelicans, but they did, in a 126-110 loss which gave the Raptors their first loss at home this season.
The Raptors could not defend the Pels, who shot 55 percent from the field. Anthony Davis wasn’t even the most prolific scorer for the Pelicans. He scored 25 points, but E’Twaun Moore went for 30 and Jrue Holiday scored 29. Davis, Moore and Holiday combined for 84 points as a trio. They needed just a little bit of help to take care of the Raptors on a night when Toronto guard Kyle Lowry scored an unfathomably low four points. Danny Green, another starter, scored only three points. Toronto made just 13 of 45 threes, missing 32 shots from the arc. That could not compete with New Orleans’ efficiency.
Was this an outlier, or an alarming sign? Chances are it is an oddity and an outlier for Toronto, which has played great basketball in the first month of the season… except in its most recent game.
