Detroit Pistons +2 (27-22) at Chicago Bulls -2 (22-29) O/U 190 8:30 PM ET Tuesday February 10, 2009
By Jason Green at Predictem.com
Tonight the Detroit Pistons travel to the Windy City to play the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls are 7 games under .500 and their owner recently called this season a “disaster.” Neither of these teams are playing well, as the Pistons are coming off a loss and are 5-5 in their last 10 games and the Bulls are also coming off a loss and are only 4-6 in their last 10 games.
The Pistons are currently in 5th position in the Eastern Conference, while the Bulls are on the outside looking in being in the 9th position. Both of these teams are looking forward to the All Star break, as both need to regroup for the second half if they want to be a threat in the East. For the Bulls the outlook does not look good, as they need to turn it around in the 2nd half if they want to make the post season. Well, at least Derrick Rose is the front-runner for the Rookie of the Year award.
This season the Bulls are 13-10 at home and the Pistons have the same 13-10 record on the road.
Hoops bookies have the Bulls as 2-point favorites with a total around 190. The Bulls are posted at -130 as home favorites and the Pistons are posted at +110 as away dogs.
The Pistons come into this game after losing to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night 107-97. The high scorer for the Pistons in that game was Allen Iverson going for 25 points, but the Answer only shot 8/22 from the field. For the game the Pistons shot 36/85 for a FG% of 42.4%. On D the Pistons allowed the Suns to shoot 41/83 for a FG% of 49.4%.
The Bulls come into this game after losing a heartbreaker to the Dallas Mavericks 115-114 in OT on Saturday night. The high scorer for the Bulls in that game was Ben Gordon going for 28 points on 9/18 shooting. For the game the Bulls shot 43/94 for a FG% of 45.7%. On D the Bulls allowed the Mavericks to shoot 45/97 from the field for a FG% of 46.4%.
The Bulls rank 12th in the NBA in scoring this season (100.3 ppg), while the Pistons are one of the lowest scoring teams ranking 28th (93.7 ppg). On defense it’s another story, as the Pistons are legit ranking 4th in points allowed (93.9 ppg), while the Bulls are soft on D ranking 22nd (102.2 ppg). Both these teams are not strong on the glass, as each has a rebounding differential of -0.5 rpg.
This season the Bulls are 24-26-1 ATS and the Pistons are 20-29. In terms of Over/Under games the Bulls are 29-22 this season and the Pistons are 20-28-1.
On the injury front SG Richard Hamilton is day-to-day for the Pistons and PF Drew Gooden is day-to-day for the Bulls.
This game may be won in the backcourt, as neither team has much of an inside presence. The Pistons will have to keep Derrick Rose (16.8 ppg) from penetrating and Ben Gordon (20.1 ppg) from shooting lights out.
Rasheed Wallace (12.9 ppg) likes to shoot from the outside, but if he goes inside tonight he will not find much resistance. If he has a good game on the boards, the Pistons have a good chance to win this game.
Allen Iverson (18 ppg) and Rip Hamilton (17.1 ppg) will have to shoot the rock well tonight for the Pistons to win. Iverson is starting to play like the scorer that the Pistons wanted when they traded for him, as he has averaged 26 points in his last 2 games. He needs to play better against the Bulls tonight than he did in his last game against them, as he was 0-7 from the field with only 5 points back in December.
The key match up tonight will be at the PF position with Loul Deng (14.7 ppg) and Tayshaun Prince (13.7 ppg). Deng has been on fire since coming back from an ankle injury averaging 17.9 ppg and 8 rpg since January 12th.
Even though the Pistons are in a better position in the Eastern Conference their window of opportunity may be closed with this team and the Bulls are starting to rebuild with some solid pieces.
The Pistons have lost 4 straight games in Chicago.
Jason’s Pick: I like the Bulls to win at home tonight.