LA Clippers (14-10) at Detroit (14-11)
When: Monday, December 14th 2015
Where: The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI
Time: 7:05 ET | TV: FSN Detroit, Prime Ticket
A couple of hot teams meet Monday night in Detroit as the Pistons host the Los Angeles Clippers. Detroit hit a stretch in November where they lost eight of eleven games, but have since won seven of nine while scoring over 100 points in each of those wins. The Pistons lost to the Clippers 101-96 on November 14th in the middle of a seven game road trip. Center Andre Drummond collected 19 rebounds in that game to go along with his 18 points. He has a double-double in every game this season except four, but he’s shooting a miserable 36.6% from the free-throw line. Drummond has been getting help recently from Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova. The two combined to go 4-of-8 from 3-point range in a 118-96 thumping of Indiana on Saturday. Morris is 8-of-13 from 3-point range over the last four games while Ilyasova has hit at least one from beyond the arc in each of the last eight games. The Pistons sit in 4th place in the Central Division, but are only 2.5 games behind front-running Cleveland.
Open an Account at Bovada Sportsbook Now! Sign up at Bovada.lv to get up to a $250 Deposit Bonus and to bet all the Web’s best NBA Basketball odds and props!
The Clippers have also won seven of their last nine games after Saturday’s 105-100 win at Brooklyn. This is the final game of their 5-game road trip and they will try to make it 4-1. They have the third best record in the Western Conference, but sit 9.5 games behind Golden State. DeAndre Jordan matches up well with Drummond and averages 13.4 rebounds a game, but he also can’t shoot free-throws. He’s hitting only 38.7% from the charity stripe, but didn’t attempt a free-throw in the first meeting with Detroit. Jamal Crawford got a start in place of an injured Chris Paul and J.J. Redick in the last meeting and poured in a season-high 37 points while Blake Griffin added 34 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Crawford is averaging 6.3 points over the last three games after putting up an average of 22 in the previous three. Paul and Redick are both back and combined for 36 points in Saturday’s victory and Paul dished out 14 assists.
I like this Pistons team and Drummond is a beast. The Clippers are playing their fifth straight road game, while the Pistons have been at home for six of their last eight games. I’ll take Detroit to win tonight.
Pick: Pistons +1.5
