The Pistons are on their way to South Beach to take on the struggling Miami Heat. With the Pistons eyes firmly set on the playoffs, the Heat are just trying to limp to the end of this catastrophic season. Currently stuck on a nine-game losing streak, Miami will look to end the free fall before they get to double digits. However, that won’t be easy with the Pistons eyeballing a home-court playoff seed that’s within reach. This one should be entertaining.
Andrew Wiggins Questionable
Alec Burks Out
Nikola Jovic Out
Jaden Ivey Out
The Pistons fans finally have a reason to watch late-season basketball as this team surges. They’re only one game out of the fourth seed in the East, behind Milwaukee and Indiana, making tonight's game critical. Detroit shouldn't have an issue taking on the Heat, but you never know with the Heat, especially at home.
When the Heat are at home, you can see a radically different group. We’ve seen them score only 87 points against the Hawks in Atlanta, then two days later play the Hawks in Miami and dominate them by 30. Wild things can happen when the Heat take the court at home. However, the flaws in this team seem to run deeper.
Miami is currently on its worst losing streak of the season; at nine games in a row, they can’t buy a win now. Of course, their schedule has been challenging full of teams with above 500 records, but still, nine in a row is hard to swallow.
The biggest concern with Miami has become scoring. Tyler Herro, either worn out from the season or falling back to earth from this hot start, has struggled to keep this team’s offense flowing. His scoring averages have dropped by nearly four points a game as his shooting efficiency plummets this month. Bam was able to find a little more daylight scoring with Herro struggling, but it’s been far from enough to make them competitive.
Now, facing off against a surging Pistons team, the night could be rough for Miami. With Herro going against Cunningham, Herro will likely struggle on both ends of the court. This Detroit defense, in general, will be challenging for Miami to solve. They are bristling with high-intensity defenders up and down the roster. For a team that is already struggling to score consistently, this doesn’t give me a ton of hope in them tonight.
This is all while Detroit has found success on both ends of the court. We’ve seen players step up all over, with Malik Beasley looking like a new man. His consistent offense has been precisely what Detroit was missing. Pair that with the defense of Duren, Thompson, Holland, and Stewart, and you have a winning combination. Cade has been the epicenter of this success. He’s become a bona fide star who will probably make his first All-NBA team this year. Overall, the future looks bright for this young Detroit team.
Detroit should be able to handle this matchup easily. Barring the Heat getting hot from three, the Pistons have the talent to outmatch Miami all night.
Money line: DET (-185) / MIA (+1540
Total Points: 218
Spread: -4.5 DET (-108) / +4.5 MIA (-112)
Detroit has struggled a little more in March, losing to OKC, Utah, LAC, and Washington, a few of those losses are concerning. However, facing off against Miami, currently on a nine-game losing streak, should give the Pistons confinement. Of course, this game is at home for Miami, which does make a difference, but Detroit still has the edge. With a better two-way backcourt, a stronger bench, and physical defenders, Miami will struggle to stop Detroit.
This is a slightly scary line, but the over looks a tad better. Miami is the real worry for the over on this line. They’re on a three-game streak of scoring under 100 points. However, Detroit is consistently scoring closer to 120 a night, which will hopefully allow them to balance out Miami if they’re struggling to score again. Either, this is going to be a close line.
Detroit should be able to secure a solid lead tonight. Even though the prior two games between these teams have been close, a ton has changed. The Pistons are thriving, while Miami has collapsed. The heat may be able to hang in there, but the size and athleticism of Detroit will likely be too much for Miami to handle.
Cade continues his run of pure dominance. Although he has only played three games in March, he has scored under 25 points, averaging 26.2 points per game this month. Even last month, he was dominant, averaging 25.9 points. With the line set at just 25.5, this feels like an easy line, especially with how weak Miami's backcourt defense has been.
Duren has missed the 11 rebound mark the last couple of games, but before that, he was on fire. Team rebounding has cut his numbers short, but tonight, Duren should be in a prime position to secure the boards. With Miami in the bottom third for field goal percentage, there should be plenty of opportunities to hit the 11-rebound mark tonight.
Bam's numbers have fallen off a bit in the last couple of weeks. Now facing off a young, physical backcourt led by Duren and Stewart, Bam could have a tough time fighting down low. Especially if Wiggins is out tonight, and his replacement is Ware, the competition for rebounds tonight could be fierce.
Herro has fallen off hard from the first half of the season. He’s still scoring, but his three-pointer has dropped off heavily, shooting only 31% in March. With the line set at 3.5 made threes, this line looks secure. He’s only hit more than 3 threes once in the last ten games. Now facing off a squirrelly Detroit backcourt, Herro might struggle to find his shots.