The Boston Celtics look for a 12th straight win against the Detroit Pistons and the defending NBA champions are likely to get it as they are double-digit home favorites on the NBA odds for the third matchup of the season between the clubs.
Detroit at Boston: 2024 NBA Expert Analysis in Week 8
Pistons at Celtics NBA Opening Lines Subject to Change: Celtics -12.5 (total 227.5) Expert Prediction: Celtics 120, Pistons 108 |
Detroit Pistons +545
The Pistons snapped a three-game skid with a 120-111 upset at the Knicks on Saturday, although New York was without All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns. The Knicks also lost Josh Hart in the fourth quarter after he picked up his second technical foul. Detroit led by 17 points in the third quarter before the Knicks outscored them over 27-14 over the final 10 minutes of the period to cut the lead 89-85.
Game Review
New York made it a two-point game in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but Detroit responded with a 12-2 run and took advantage of four turnovers by New York to increase the lead to 103-89 with 7:55 left in regulation as Detroit ended a 16-game losing streak in the series that had been the NBA’s longest active by one team against another.
Cade Cunningham
Cunningham dominated for the Pistons with 20 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds for his fifth triple-double of the season. He’s now reached the 20-point threshold in each of his last seven outings, a stretch in which Cunningham is averaging a robust 25.3 points, 10.9 assists, 7.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 3.3 three-pointers per game while shooting 46.9 percent from long range.
Triple-Double Deuce❗️ https://t.co/j1qhcY1Vz7 pic.twitter.com/oPx0IaXbgy
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) December 8, 2024
Before Saturday, no Detroit Pistons had ever exited the current iteration of Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1968, with a triple-double. Cunningham’s five on the year are the third-most in a season by a Piston (behind only Grant Hill’s 10 in 1995-96 and 13 in 1996-97). Cunningham 6th in NBA with 197 assists. He’s in the midst of what would be only the 18th NBA individual season 23.0 points, 9.0 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game. Cunningham says he’s an All-Star.
“I believe I am,” Cunningham said of being an All-Star. “Whenever I’m on the court every night, I feel like I’m the best player. I try to do whatever it takes to help my team win, and my teammates have made me look great this year. I’m just trying to help my team win and we’ll see what happens with it.”
Tobias Harris
Harris added 13 points and nine rebounds. Over his last eight outings, Harris is averaging 15.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 three-pointers per game. Point guard Jaden Ivey had 16 points, four rebounds and four assists. Malik Beasley had 23 points in just 25 minutes off the bench. Beasley’s seven 3-pointers were one shy of his season-high, and he is 13-of-21 from deep over his last two outings. Beasley had made 92 3-pointers this season, the 2nd-most in the NBA and the most through 25 team games in franchise history. Detroit’s 315 made 3-pointers are the most through 25 games in franchise history. The Pistons have averaged 15.6% more 3-point attempts and 20.6% more 3PM than last season.
Thursday’s game in Boston will be the Pistons’ only game through nine days — the gap between their upcoming home game against the Miami Heat on the 16th, and their road win over the Knicks on Saturday. At the 25-game mark, the Pistons have 10 wins and are off to their best start in five seasons. A strong defense thrusted the Pistons to a 7-8 start, ranking sixth in the league in defensive rating through that span. They’ve slipped to 21st in the 10 games since.
J.B. Bickerstaff
“You practice, and you let guys get healthy,” Bickerstaff said after practice this week about all the time off. “I think that’s the most important thing. You’ve gotta do what you gotta do to keep a rhythm, but it’s good for us because there were some things that I think we were slipping on that we needed some practice time to get reps to clean up, so we’ll take advantage of it.”
On the injury front, Ausar Thompson has appeared in five games since returning from his March blood clot diagnosis on Nov. 26, and missed Saturday’s win with a groin injury.
^Boston Celtics -833
Boston had a three-game winning streak snapped in a 127-121 home win over Memphis on Saturday – although it was the second of a back-to-back for the C’s as the Grizzlies snapped a 10-game skid in Boston. The Celtics erased a 14-point, third-quarter deficit, taking a 97-94 lead early in the fourth. Memphis rallied and led 117-115 with less than four minutes to play. The Grizzlies then scored seven straight to get it back up to 124-115 and were able to close it out. Memphis outscored Boston 64-40 in the paint.
The Grizzlies had an outstanding defensive game despite giving up 121 points. They held the C’s to 40 percent shooting from the field including a 30 percent clip from 3-point range, and they had a total of 20 stocks (13 steals and seven blocks). They packed the paint against the most prolific 3-point shooting team in NBA history, and it worked.
Kristaps Porzingis
“They packed the paint so heavily, so that took away a lot of my post-ups,” said Porzingis. “The spacing was just not good.”
Porzingis was back in the lineup after getting Friday off and had 19 points, eight rebounds, two assists, three blocks and two steals over 33 minutes. Jrue Holiday notched 23 points to take a rare turn as Boston’s top scorer, marking his second consecutive 20-point game following a two-game absence due to a knee issue. Holiday is one of only three active players with at least 1,500 three-pointers, 6,000 rebounds, and 500 blocks, joining LeBron James and James Harden.
Payton Pritchard
Pritchard added 22 points off the bench. Pritchard drilled six three-pointers during the loss, marking his third-highest total in the category this season. He is having a breakout season, averaging 16.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists. The Celtics’ 51.4 3-point attempts per game is an all-time NBA record by a mile. The Houston Rockets in 2018-19 are in second place at 45.4. Pritchard’s 3-point volume has shot up, taking nearly two more catch-and-shoot and two more pull-up 3s per game. Boston owns the best winning percentage in games with 20+ 3-pointers made in NBA history (min. 20 games) with a 54-5 overall record and 91.5 percentage.
Jayson Tatum
Tatum had an off game scoring with 17 points but also had 13 rebounds and nine assists. He ranks fourth in the NBA in total points (648) scored this season. Tatum has dished out 4+ assists in 14 straight games for the second-longest streak of his career (15, Jan.-Feb. 2023). Tatum also has seven 30-point double-doubles on the year, the third most in a single season in his career. He owns the third-most career games in Celtics history with 49, chasing John Havlicek (69) next.
With authority 🫡 pic.twitter.com/hhs2oDAZnn
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 8, 2024
Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of only four total NBA players averaging at least 25.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 steals this season (Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokic).
^How to Bet Pistons at Celtics NBA Opening Lines
When: Thursday, 7:30 PM ET
Where: TD Garden
TV: NBA League Pass
Stream: NBA.com, NBA TV app
Radio: Tunein.com
Pistons vs Celtics Season Series
Second of four regular-season meetings with the Celtics leading 2-0. They just played in Boston on Dec. 4 and the Celtics prevailed 130-120. The C’s scored 12 straight to take an 18-4 lead less than four minutes into the game and led by 20. Boston held a double-digit lead until the fourth quarter, when Detroit hit four straight 3-pointers to come within eight points, 109-101, and force Boston coach Joe Mazzulla to put Brown back in. The Pistons cut it to five in the final minute on Tobias Harris’ 3-pointer, but Payton Pritchard’s 3 sealed it. Boston was without Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday. The Celtics have won 11 straight in the series.
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2020 Pistons vs Celtics
The Detroit Pistons didn’t win in Boston during the 2018-19 season and the Pistons lost their first trip to Beantown earlier this season. Wednesday is their last chance to win there in the 2019-20 campaign, but the Celtics are sizable favorites on the Mybookie NBA odds.
How to Bet Pistons at Celtics NBA Odds & TV Info
- When: Wednesday, 7 PM ET
- Where: TD Garden, Boston
- TV: NBA League Pass
- Live Stream: NBA League Pass
- Radio: SiriusXM
- Pistons vs Celtics NBA Odds: Boston Celtics -10.5 (Total 217)
Pistons vs Celtics Season Series
The Celtics won the first meeting 114-93 at home on Dec. 20. Detroit had a season-high 25 turnovers that led to 32 points for Boston. There were five lead changes and four ties in the game, with all happening prior to the 10:15 mark of the second quarter.Boston went on a 13-2 run to take a double-digit lead with 7:24 to go in the second quarter and never led by less than 10 the rest of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each led the Celtics with 26 points. Andre Drummond had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons. Boston leads all-time at home 97-41.
Why Bet on Detroit?
Detroit (14-27) dropped its third in a row on Monday, 117-110 at home in overtime. The Pistons are still missing starters Blake Griffin (knee), Luke Kennard (knee) and Reggie Jackson (back). Griffin is probably done for the season. Kennard probably doesn’t return until after the All-Star break.Along with the injuries, Pistons coach Dwane Casey benched Andre Drummond for the fourth quarter and overtime, playing Christian Wood for the final 20:23. Casey also went with youngsters Svi Mykhailiuk and Sekou Doumbouya down the stretch. Derrick Rose played a season-high 37 minutes vs. the Pelicans, scoring 23 points on 10-of-23 shooting with eight assists and four rebounds. Casey said Rose convinced him to stay in the game late, but admitted after the game that he has “to be more disciplined in that situation.”
Rose & Co.
Rose has scored at least 20 points in six-straight games (longest personal such streak since Mar. 22 to Apr. 2, 2011 – 7 games) and at least 10 points in 23-straight games (longest personal such streak since Feb. 8 to Nov. 7, 2017 – 27 games). Detroit, which trailed by 16 with 11 minutes to play, tied the game at 100 on Rose’s bank shot with 30 seconds left in regulation. Rose did miss a shot at the regulation buzzer, though. The Pelicans opened overtime with a 9-2 run.Wood had 18 points and nine rebounds in Monday’s loss. Doumbouya posted a solid line in 35 minutes vs. the Pelicans, scoring 16 points with eight rebounds. The Pelicans dominated on the boards at both ends of the floor, pulling down 90% of Detroit’s missed shots and 31% of their own misses.
Detroit has shot .371 from 3-point range this season, which ranks third in the NBA. Detroit is shooting the seventh-highest percentage from beyond the arc in franchise history (franchise record: .404, 1995-96).
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 108.27
- Field Goal Percentage: 46.25
- Three-Point Percentage: 37.07
- Free Throw Percentage: 74.34
- Total Rebounds: 42.44
- Total Score: 111.24
- Field Goal Percentage: 47.43
- Three-Point Percentage: 37.25
- Free Throw Percentage: 77.63
- Total Rebounds: 43.49
Why Bet on Boston?
Boston (27-11) won its second in a row Monday, 113-101 over visiting Chicago. The Bulls cut a big hole at intermission to six points twice in the third, the last 67-61 on Kris Dunn’s 3-pointer from directly in front of Boston’s bench, but the Celtics closed the quarter with an 8-2 spurt to take an 83-71 edge into the fourth. The Celtics only trailed once in the game — 6-4 in the opening quarter — and that was just for 22 seconds.Jayson Tatum tallied 21 points six rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks in the win. Tatum led six double-digit scorers and he has now scored 62 points in his last two games. In the three games prior he tallied a total of 46 points, shooting 40 percent or worse from the field in each of those outings. Jaylen Brown had 19 points and Kemba Walker 14. Brown matched his point total from the two games prior to Monday night.
Daniel Theis missed the game with right knee soreness and Enes Kanter got the start. Kanter played 26 minutes, finishing with 15 points nine rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot.
Some Doubts
Guard Marcus Smart Marcus went to the floor early in the second quarter after banging his left knee into Ryan Arcidiacono’s right knee. Smart got up slowly after a short delay, but stayed in the game. He had 12 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Smart led the Celtics in playing time with more than 33 minutes of action. Boston dominated Chicago by 25 points during those minutes, which stands as the largest plus/minus rating of the game.Boston’s defense was more dominant during the first quarter than it had been to start a game all season. It limited the Bulls to just 14 points, which set a new first-quarter low for C’s opponents this season. The previous low was 18 points.
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 111.42
- Field Goal Percentage: 45.72
- Three-Point Percentage: 35.47
- Free Throw Percentage: 80.94
- Total Rebounds: 45.87
Defense
- Total Score: 104.32
- Field Goal Percentage: 44.07
- Three-Point Percentage: 34.09
- Free Throw Percentage: 74.17
- Total Rebounds: 44.24
Pistons vs Celtics 2020 NBA Betting Trends
- Celtics are 7-1 SU in their last 8 games against an opponent in the Central division
- Celtics are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games played on a Wednesday
- The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Boston’s last 9 games
- Pistons are 5-14 SU in their last 19 games on the road
- Pistons are 1-8 ATS in their last 9 games against an opponent in the Eastern conference
- The total has gone OVER in 9 of Detroit’s last 12 games
Expert Final Prediction for Pistons vs Celtics
Detroit Pistons 101 – Boston Celtics 113NBA Betting Center
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