Pistons vs. Nuggets: Odds for Detroit as they try to fix errors

Monte Morris #11 of the Denver Nuggets and Killian Hayes #7 of the Detroit Pistons (Photo by Ethan Mito/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images)
Monte Morris #11 of the Denver Nuggets and Killian Hayes #7 of the Detroit Pistons (Photo by Ethan Mito/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images) /
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The Detroit Pistons will take on the Denver Nuggets in a rematch of Sunday’s frustrating loss in the Mile-High city.

Detroit played well at times against reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and his misfit cast of Nuggets, but were ultimately undone by too many mistakes and a lack of execution down the stretch, as they committed 22 turnovers, including the last three possessions.

Detroit may have figured a few things out against Denver, namely that Jokic doesn’t like to defend away from the basket and the Pistons can eat from the mid-range with Isaiah Stewart and Cade Cunningham.

Cunningham inexplicably didn’t touch the ball down the stretch for Detroit and I hope Dwane Casey doesn’t make that mistake again if this one is close at home.

Related Story. Why Cade Cunningham should play off the ball more. light

The Pistons also experimented with 3-guard lineups that included Cunningham, Cory Joseph and Killian Hayes late in the game, which was effective at times against the bigger, slower Nuggets.

It will be interesting to see if Detroit can replicate their effort, clean up the 22 turnovers they committed in the last meeting and get a quality win at home.

Detroit Pistons vs. Denver Nuggets: Odds, spread, over/under and best bets

According to WynnBET, the Pistons are 7.5 point underdogs at home against the Nuggets.

They lost by six in the last meeting but the game was tied with under two minutes left, so Detroit hung in there on the road at the tail end of a tough western road trip.

You never know what you are going to get with this team from night to night and they have been a bit all or nothing for most of 2022, but if they can just cut their turnovers down to a reasonable number they can win this game outright, so forget the points.

The money lines are +255 for Detroit and -315 for Denver, so the books think the last game was a fluke and the Nuggets will get the win on the road behind their MVP.

The over/under is set at 218.5, possibly a bit low considering the two combined for 228 just two days ago, but Detroit is not a consistently high-scoring team.

I think Detroit is going to learn from their mistakes, clean some things up and get a big night from Cade Cunningham to get a win in Little Caesar’s tonight.

The Pistons have some matchups they can exploit, so if they can find a way to slow down Jokic (good luck) and cut down the turnovers, I think they can get the “W” against Denver.

Other than Cunningham, I would keep riding Trey Lyles, who is one of the best low-cost plays in daily fantasy right now. He just keeps putting up under-the-radar numbers, so go with Lyles and spend your big money elsewhere.

If you are desperate, Cory Joseph (mostly) played well for Detroit in the last meeting and has been handling the ball a lot more as a starter with Cunningham. He’ll be good for double-digit points and hopefully tally a few assists to go with it. Joseph is also sneakily shooting very well from 3-point range of late and is now shooting 44 percent from long range on the season.

How to watch Pistons vs. Nuggets

The game tips off in downtown Detroit at 7:00 PM ET and you can watch it on Bally Sports Detroit or listen on 97.1 FM the Ticket.

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