The Detroit Pistons successfully kicked off their 2015-16 campaign on a strong note thanks to a surprising 106-94 road victory over the Atlanta Hawks. But they won’t have much time to celebrate their win as they’ll be in action again tonight versus the visiting Utah Jazz. Will the Pistons make it two-wins in a row? Or will the Jazz win and spoil their home-opener?
Read on further for a comprehensive breakdown of this riveting showdown between these two up-and-coming teams. For more NBA game previews, click here for Pacers at Raptors and here for Spurs at Thunder.
[sc:NBA240banner ]The future is burning bright in Utah despite missing the playoffs for the third-straight time. The Jazz did well in the off-season efforts by not making any significant moves. Their roster is relatively the same and the expectations are higher this season. The journey begins for them this evening when they take on the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Aubern Hills.
Even without Dante Exum, who tore his ACL in August, the Jazz are going to be a team to be reckoned with because they still have the likes of Gordon Hayward, Trey Burks and Rodney Hood in their backcourt.
Hayward is bound to continue progressing into a legitimate star after posting a career-high 19.3 points per contest last year. Burks and Hood, on the other hand, are beginning to adjust to the pace of the league and are also expected to have a considerable increase in their averages.
Then of course, their main man in the middle, Rudy Gobert, is one to watch out for as well. His offensive game is still a bit raw but on the other side of the court, opposing players are going to be extremely bothered with his presence in the paint. Gobert ranked fourth-overall in the league with 2.3 blocks per game in his sophomore season and was a main reason why the Jazz were so good on defense (94.9 points allowed per outing).
Meanwhile, Derrick Favors cannot be forgotten. He’s the biggest offensive weapon they have down low and he will certainly attract a lot of attention. Favors, the 24-year-old power forward from Georgia Tech, is coming off his best year in the NBA, averaging 16.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.5 dimes and 1.7 blocks.
Utah has won eight of its previous 10 meetings versus Detroit and is 6-4 against the spread in that stretch.
In a game where most people assumed that they would lose, the Detroit Pistons played excellent basketball to overthrow the favored Atlanta Hawks at their own home floor and start the season 1-0. The Pistons will look to keep this momentum going when they take on the Utah Jazz in their home-opener tonight.
Key to the Pistons’ recent win was everyone. Their starting five all finished in double figures and Kentavius Caldwell-Pope led the way with a game-high 21 points. Reggie Jackson also provided an all-around performance worth noting, as he delivered 15 points, eight rebounds, five dimes and two steals.
In the rebounds department, Atlanta was totally outdone by Detroit, 59-40. Andre Drummond made his presence felt by grabbing 19 rebounds and scored 18 points to give him his first double-double performance of the season. But he and the rest of the Pistons are going to have to work extra hard on both sides of the floor later against a constantly-improving Jazz squad.
For the Piston to succeed in this one, they’ll need to knock down their outside jumpers especially with the intimidating presences of Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors preventing them to get easy buckets in the paint. That said, look to Jackson and KCP to ignite their offensive game and force the Jazz to challenge every shot as much as possible.
Drummond, meanwhile, can benefit from this as he’ll have more room to work with in getting some crucial put-backs and second-chance points for his team. The 22-year-old center averaged 5.3 offensive rebounds per game last season, which was the second-most in the NBA.
Dating back to the 2014-15 season, Detroit is 6-4 SU and 7-3 ATS in its past 10 home games.
Writer’s Prediction
The Pistons (+1.5) receive a huge performance form their dynamic duo in Jackson and Drummond to put the Jazz away, 89-85.
