Philadelphia’s road woes continued on Thursday as the Sixers absorbed a stinging nine-point loss to the Brooklyn Nets. The Sixers, who have now their opening 13 road games, will look for a much better performance later tonight when they host the Detroit Pistons at Wells Fargo Center.
Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this NBA matchup and while you’re at it, you can check out our previews of Golden State vs. Boston and Miami vs. Indiana.
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Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia 76ers Preview
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
When: Friday, December 11, 7:00 PM ET
Line: Detroit Pistons (-8) at Philadelphia 76ers (+8); total: 192.5 – view all NBA lines
Betting on the Detroit Pistons (12-11)
The Detroit Pistons crashed to their second straight defeat with a gut-wrenching 93-92 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night. Matt Barnes drained an improbable halfcourt shot with 1.1 seconds remaining to send the Pistons to another heartbreaking loss.
[sc:NBA240banner ]The Pistons will look to get their season back on track when they face the Philadelphia 76ers tonight. For the Pistons to snap their losing skid this evening, they will need to improve on their perimeter offense. Detroit shot just 8-for-29 from beyond the arc in the game against Memphis. They have shot just 28.6 percent from the three-point area in their last two losses.
Detroit’s perimeter shooters may be struggling right now but the same can’t be said about star center Andre Drummond. He poured in 18 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in that loss to the Pistons. This was Drummond’s 20th double-double of the year. He’s averaging 18.0 points and a league-best 16.7 rebounds per game this season. He will be licking his chops at the prospect of facing a Philadelphia defense that’s surrendering 103.1 points per game this campaign, seventh-worst in the NBA.
The Pistons are 2-8 ATS in their last 10 road games.
Things are going from bad to worse for the Philadelphia 76ers as they crashed to their fourth consecutive defeat with a 100-91 loss to Brooklyn Thursday night. The Sixers had no answer for Andrea Bargnani who scored a season-high 23 points. It was another disappointing performance by the Sixers who have now lost 22 of their last 23 games.
The Sixers will look to return to the win column when they square off with the Pistons tonight. Head coach Brett Brown will look for a much better showing from his troops compared to the one they dished out against Brooklyn last night. The Sixers struggled with their shooting against the Nets, converting just 39.1 percent of their field goal attempts. Philadelphia has struggled mightily on the offensive end this year, averaging a league-worst 90.8 points per game this season.
The onus is on Jahlil Okafor to carry the fight for the beleaguered Sixers. He excelled in the game against Brooklyn, scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He’s one of the few bright spots for the Sixers this season, with the former Duke star averaging a team-best 16.9 points per game this year. He will fancy his chances against a Detroit defense that’s allowing 43.8 points inside the paint this season, eighth-worst in the NBA.
The Sixers are 3-6-1 ATS in their last 10 home games.
