The Detroit Pistons (19-51) meet the Cleveland Cavaliers (40-30) at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Saturday for an 8 p.m. ET tip-off. Below, we look at the Pistons vs. Cavaliers odds and lines, and make our expert NBA picks, predictions and bets.
Detroit snapped a 4-game losing skid Thursday by crushing the Magic 134-120 in Orlando as a 3-point underdog.
Pistons SF Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 51 points on 63.0% field goal shooting (10-for-14 from behind the arc). Detroit is 12-1 against the spread (ATS) in the last 13 games.
Cleveland upset the visiting Denver Nuggets 119-116 in overtime Friday as a 2.5-point underdog. The Cavs are 4-3 straight up (SU) and 4-2-1 ATS since March 6.
The Pistons are 2-1 SU and ATS versus the Cavs this season and the total is 1-1-1 Over/Under (O/U).
Pistons at Cavaliers odds, spread and lines
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 2:35 p.m. ET.
- Money line (ML): Pistons +200 (bet $100 to win $200) | Cavaliers -250 (bet $250 to win $100)
- Against the spread: Pistons +5.5 (-105) | Cavaliers -5.5 (-120)
- Over/Under (O/U): 216.5 (O: -112 | U: -108)
Pistons at Cavaliers key injuries
Pistons
- PG Cade Cunningham (illness) probable
- SG Hamidou Diallo (finger) out
- PG Killian Hayes (head) questionable
- PG Frank Jackson (back) out
Cavaliers (not submitted yet)
- C Jarrett Allen (finger) out
[tipico]
Pistons at Cavaliers odds, lines, picks and predictions
Prediction
Pistons 112, Cavaliers 109
Money line
SPRINKLE on the PISTONS (+200) because their spread is a sharp play, they’ve beaten the Cavaliers twice already and Detroit is trending up.
Pistons rookie and No. 1 overall pick PG Cade Cunningham is the best player on the floor and it should be easier for him to get to the rack with the Cavs’ Allen out of the lineup.
Furthermore, Detroit is a team I’m buying stock in down the final stretch of the season. The Pistons have a solid core of talent with Cunningham, Bey and SF Jerami Grant with a quality head coach in Dwane Casey.
Also, the Cavs are 6-6 SU in the second of a back-to-back, but their efficiency regresses. Cleveland has a minus-3.9 non-garbage time net rating on zero rest days (ranked 22nd), according to CleaningTheGlass.com (CTG).
Again, the better play is Detroit’s spread, but I’m BETTING PISTONS (+200) to steal this game outright.
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Against the spread
BET the PISTONS +5.5 (-105) heavier than or instead of their ML based on the previous analysis and because there’s significant reverse-line movement in Detroit’s direction.
According to Pregame.com, roughly 70% of the market is betting the Cavaliers -5.5 (-120), but they’ve been lowered from 8-point opening favorites. It’s a red flag whenever sportsbooks make the more popular side cheaper.
On top of that, Cleveland just played a tough, overtime game Friday against Denver, so Detroit could get a winded Cavs team, which is 4-6-2 ATS in the second of a back-to-back.
The PISTONS PLUS THE POINTS is my favorite wager in this game.
Over/Under
PASS.
My numbers say this game is going Over, but most of the market is betting the Over and I hate following the herd in sports betting.
More importantly, the Cavs are 4-16-1 O/U as home favorites and 3-9 O/U in the second of a back-to-back.
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