Getty Blake Griffin #23 of the Detroit Pistons shoots the ball over Julius Randle #30 of the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center on January 23, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Chicago Bulls visit the Detroit Pistons in the second game of a home-and-home on Sunday. The Pistons beat the Bulls 112-104 at the United Center, erasing a 21-point deficit last Friday.
Sunday, March 8 at 12:00 PM ET
Little Caesars Arena
Coverage: NBA League Pass
*All odds and betting info courtesy of OddsShark and originally posted by Jazz Sports
- Chicago Bulls vs. Detroit Pistons (-8 at -110)
- Over/Under: 217 at -110
Recent Takeaways
💪 @blakegriffin23‘s game-high 27 PTS steer the @DetroitPistons to their 4th win in a row! #DetroitBasketball
The Pistons were down by as many as 21 points and now they’ve won 11 of their last 13 games, including four straight. It looked like a blowout, with the Bulls hitting all their shots to take a 66-49 lead at halftime but the home team struggled in the third quarter, scoring just 14 points after the Pistons stepped up on defense.
Andre Drummond was a beast at both ends of the floor, scoring 14 points with 18 rebounds, two steals and one block in the second half alone.
Ish Smith did an incredible job pushing up the pace and finished with seven points, seven assists and six rebounds in 25 minutes and Blake Griffin, who tweaked his calf and went back to the locker room, took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 points to finish with a game-high 27 points.
The Bulls were held to 38 second half points while the Pistons scored 63, including 43 in the fourth quarter. Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 24 points, Otto Porter Jr. had 23 points and eight assists and Lauri Markkanen added 18 points.
Bulls vs. Pistons Trends and Prediction
This dunk didn’t matter… but it was too nice to ignore.
The Under is:
- 11-4 in Detroit’s last 15 games playing with one day of rest
- 6-0 in Chicago’s last six games against Central Division opponents
Team rankings based on pace:
Bulls – 21st (101.1 possessions per game)
Pistons – 25th (100.5 possessions per game)
Team rankings based on offensive efficiency:
Bulls – 30th (102.4 points allowed per 100 possessions)
Pistons – 21st (105.7 points scored per 100 possessions)
If the Bulls want to win this game, they have to contain Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond. The Pistons outrebounded the Bulls 41-35 and Drummond had 24 of those 41 rebounds, including 21 defensive boards that helped limit second-chance points. That can’t happen again.
The Pistons can’t wait until the end to start playing hard, they were lucky that the Bulls ran out of gas in the second half but playoff contenders in the East like the Bucks, Raptors, Pacers, Sixers and Celtics won’t let them come-from-behind late, so they better start taking the last games of the regular season as playoff contests.
These two teams play at a slow pace and although they put up a lot of points last Friday, the total still went Under and in some stretches, you could see that they can struggle to score.
Pick: Under 217
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