Fresh off a thrilling 116-113 home win against the Golden State Warriors, the Dallas Mavericks are now looking to win their second game in a row as they visit the Detroit Pistons. Catch this game live at 8 AM on Friday, December 2.
Away: Dallas Mavericks (10-10, 1-7 Away)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Luka Doncic
- SG: Spencer Dinwiddie
- SF: Tim Hardaway Jr.
- PF: Dorian Finney-Smith
- C: Dwight Powell
The Dallas Mavericks narrowly escaped the Golden State Warriors thanks to a masterful 41 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists and four steals from Luka Doncic, who’s looking like a strong MVP candidate this season. It marked the second time the Slovenian guard eclipsed 40 points in his last five games, and the Pistons will have a hard time stopping him this coming game.
The Mavericks also got a smooth 22 points from Tim Hardaway, who shot 8 of 16 from the field in the win. They’ll need more of that production to get the win and Hardaway can be a mercurial scorer.
Spencer Dinwiddie, who was ejected with a flagrant 2 foul after elbowing Jordan Poole in the face the other day, will be looking to attack more as he only had 14 points, two assists and two steals before being booted from the game.
The biggest bounce back needs to come from Christian Wood, who had four points and eight rebounds while shooting an awful 2 of 12 from the field, including 0 of 5 from beyond the arc.
Dallas are 1-4-0 ATS as the road favorite this season so far.
Home: Detroit Pistons (5-18, 3-7 Home)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Killian Hayes
- SG: Bojan Bogdanovic
- SF: Isaiah Livers
- PF: Marvin Bagley
- C: Isaiah Stewart
With Jaden Ivey still out, the Pistons have very little strengths in terms of scorers. While they have seven players scoring in double digits, their leading scorer is Bojan Bogdanovic, who is not a star by any means.
Even more concerning is their lack of interior defense, which allowed Julius Randle to bully them in a painful 140-110 defeat against the New York Knicks. No one broke the 20-point barrier in that game against the Knicks, and scoring could be an Achilles heel for them again against the Mavericks.
The Pistons are also the second-worst team in the league in terms of opponent points-per-game at 117.7, and they’ll need to hope Luka Doncic has an off night from the field to have a chance of winning.
Detroit are 4-4-1 ATS as the home underdog this season.
PREDICTION:
Spread: The Mavericks should cover the -7 spread.
Over/Under: The over 221.5 looks good.