NBA Betting Free Picks: Washington @ Detroit
Added on Mar 13, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
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Sportsbooks will be full of college hoops fans this weekend but there will be plenty of NBA betting opportunities on the board as well. We’ll take a look at a game between two Eastern Conference also-rans as the Washington Wizards head to Motown to face the Detroit Pistons. Both teams are 10 games out of the final playoff spot in the East–a conference where a .500 record is good enough for a postseason berth.
Washington Wizards at Detroit Pistons
March 12, 5:05 PM Pacific
When it comes to handicapping late season games between teams of this class its important to look at what is *really* happening and not get fixated on the YTD numbers. At first glance, we’ve got a battle between two teams going nowhere except the NBA Draft Lottery. Just looking at the historical data between the two teams the price on this game may appear justified. Detroit is 8-2 SU/6-4 ATS against the Wizards in the last 10 meetings including 4-0 SU/3-1 ATS at home. The Wizards have been in the news constantly this year, most of it focusing on the gunplay fiasco involving Gilbert Arenas and its aftermath. The Pistons have been left to toil in some degree on anonymity which could give the mistaken impression that their team is somehow in better shape at this point than Washington.
Washington’s W/L record may not show it, but there’s been several bright spots in the aftermath of the Arenas suspension and the trade of team leader Antawn Jamison to Cleveland. They’ve received some solid play from players that were relegated to minor roles in the past. Randy Foye–until now the answer to the trivia question “Who did the Blazers send to Minnesota to steal Brandon Roy?”–has become a dependable point guard running the Wizards’ offense. Perhaps the most impressive performance has been turned in by power forward Andray Blatche who has morphed into a ‘poor man’s’ Carlos Boozer delivering scoring and rebounds. In his last 5 games he’s averaging 20.4 PPG and 8.4 RPG with a 30 point/10 board performance last night in a hard fought loss to Atlanta.
Detroit is 3-7 SU/ATS as a home favorite in this price range (3′ to 6 points) while Washington is 5-3 ATS as a similarly priced road underdog. While the W/L numbers for these teams look equally dismal there’s at least some definite signs of life on the Wizards roster and in a matchup of this class getting a decent amount of points that’s a strong enough reason to take a position on Washington.
Bet Washington +5′ over Detroit
