The last time these two teams met, the San Antonio Spurs and the Detroit Pistons produced what was one of the best games of the 2014-15 NBA season. Down three, with 10.8 seconds remaining, the Pistons shocked the San Antonio faithful last January by staging a miraculous comeback to upend the Spurs in regulation, 105-104.
That victory was part of the Pistons’ improbable seven-game winning run that helped them get into playoff contention. With San Antonio paying the Palace a visit this time around, can the Pistons shock the Spurs again and pull off the double against the defending champions?
Read on below for a preview of this pivotal NBA showdown and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of the game between the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors here.
[sc:NBAArticles ]San Antonio Spurs vs. Detroit Pistons Betting Preview
Where: The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit
When: Wednesday, February 11, 7:30 PM ET
Line: San Antonio Spurs (-6) at Detroit Pistons (+6); total: 196.0 – view all NBA lines
Betting on the San Antonio Spurs
Coaching has never been this grand for San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich.
[sc:NBA240banner ]The five-time NBA champion recorded yet another milestone, securing his 1,000th victory Monday in a thrilling 95-93 comeback win over the Indiana Pacers. Popovich became the ninth coach in NBA history to notch 1,000 wins, following in the esteemed footsteps of legendary tacticians Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan, George Karl, Larry Brown and Rick Adelman.
Among those coaches, however, only Jackson and Riley reached 1,000 wins faster than Popovich. And only one other coach in Jerry Sloan achieved that feat with only one team. His career winning percentage (.684) trails only Jackson among those who reached the incredible milestone.
Grabbing win no. 1,000 sure wasn’t easy, though, as the Indiana Pacers did their best to spoil the Spurs’ party. In fact, the Pacers held a 79-65 advantage against the Spurs entering the fourth quarter. The Spurs showed tremendous composure, however, in the payoff period, outscoring Indiana, 30-14, to grab their 33rd win of the season and give Popovich the monumental victory.
It’s quite astonishing, though, that out of those 1,000 wins, this is just the third time in Popovich’s career that his Spurs side won a game in which it trailed by 14 points entering the final quarter. The Spurs recorded those comeback victories against the Suns back in 2005 and against the Timberwolves back in December 2010.
Leading the way for the Spurs were old stalwarts Tim Duncan and Tony Parker who combined for 34 points on 14-of-30 shooting. It was Marco Belinelli, though, who delivered the biggest shot of the game, knocking in the go-ahead jumper with just 2.1 seconds remaining in the game to land the killer blow against the Pacers.
Duncan and Belinelli are expected to carry the scoring cudgels for San Antonio once again when the Spurs pay the Pistons a visit later tonight. They combined for 27 points in San Antonio’s gut-wrenching one-point defeat to Detroit a month ago.
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Betting on the Detroit Pistons
Attention basketball fans! Don’t be shocked but it’s time to take Detroit’s chances of reaching this year’s Eastern Conference playoffs seriously. Yes, you heard it right. This rag-tag Pistons squad has a legitimate chance of making the postseason this coming April.
The Pistons boosted their case for a spot in this year’s postseason with a mind-blowing 106-78 rout of the Charlotte Hornets Tuesday night. With the win, the Pistons improved their record to 21-32, just 1 ½ games behind the Hornets for that coveted eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
It’s unfathomable to think that the Pistons are in this position right now considering the turmoil that they endured in the earlier stages of the season. The Pistons started the season 5-23 which led to Stan van Gundy’s surprise decision to waive star forward Josh Smith last December.
That proved to be a stroke of genius on Van Gundy’s part, as the Pistons rolled off seven consecutive wins after that move. Even Brandon Jenning’s season-ending Achilles injury hasn’t put a damper on the Pistons’ ascent in the team standings as they have now won 16 of their last 25 games since that decision.
Key to their renaissance has been the excellent form of Greg Monroe. He’s averaging a team-best 15.4 points and 10.5 boards per game this season. He was superb Tuesday against the Hornets as well, scoring 23 points and hauling down 12 rebounds for the Pistons.
The Pistons simply dominated inside the shaded area, outscoring the Hornets 50-32 inside the paint. Detroit is fourth in the league in points inside the paint, averaging 45.1 points per game in that department this season. They will look to continue to pound the ball inside against a Spurs’ defense that allows 41.2 points per game inside the shaded area this campaign.
Writer’s Prediction
The Spurs (-6) edge past the Pistons, 98-90.
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