NBA: New Orleans Pelicans vs. Detroit Pistons Preview, Odds, Prediction

The New Orleans Pelicans will try to bounce back after back-to-back losses that have stopped their rise. However, they won’t have an easy task, with the Detroit Pistons awaiting the Pels in Motor City. Pistons have made a huge upset in Boston, beating the Celtics, which is a massive plus for this crew. Each win for the Pistons at the TD Garden, boosts their morale enormously. That is why we wanted to cover this event, as it promises a lot of excitement. 

Preview 

New Orleans Pelicans (11-14, -165) are on a four-game tour, and so far, they’ve posted two losses in the first two events of the same. The first one was in Chicago against the Bulls, 129-116, allowing Zach LaVine and Coby White to bomb from downtown as pleased. We witnessed the same thing in Dallas a couple of nights ago.

Pels allowed 143 points and 25 three points, which is the same number as against the Bulls. Overall, the defense was always an issue for the team from Big Easy, as they allow 113.8 points per night, but in recent times, those numbers deteriorated, and Stan Van Gundy needs to do something fast to improve this matter. Otherwise, the playoffs will stay out of reach for the youngsters from Louisiana. 

Zion and Brandon Ingram post 24.3 and 23.9 points per night, respectively, but we need to say that 12.3 rebounds combined are a bit low. Their athleticism needs to provide more when it comes to controlling the glass on both ends, because you can’t allow Josh Hart to have more boards than each one of these two guys, 7.6.

Detroit Pistons (7-19, +145) winning two in the previous three games is something the Pistons saw just once since the start of the campaign. At first, they would beat the Brooklyn Nets at home, before losing against the Indiana Pacers. But then, Dwane Casey’s side provided a big surprise in Boston, defeating the C’s 108-102.

Saddiq Bay scored 30 points, adding 12 boards in 27 minutes off the bench, with seven threes made in the same number of attempts. He was, without a doubt, something the hosts didn’t count on, and in the end, an X-factor on the court. 

Jerami Grant didn’t have a shiny night in Boston, but the biggest candidate for the Most Improved Player of the Year is playing superbly since the campaign began. He scores 23.3 points per game, with 5.5 boards and 1.2 blocks. Detroit’s decision to hand him a $60 million three-year deal proved to be their best decision in the past couple of years. 

Head to Head Games

In both matches last year, the Pelicans defeated the Pistons. The first was in Louisiana, 105-103, and the second in Michigan, 117-110 after overtime. 

Prediction

This will be a big test for the Pelicans. Right now, Zion and the boys are 4-9 on the road, and if they can’t defeat the mediocre Pistons on the road, then they aren’t a legit playoff contender. Even though many won’t agree with that, that is the harsh reality.

We will go with New Orleans’ win in this case because they have a better and deeper roster, plus, a more versatile attack. And because of their playoff ambitions.