NBA: New York Knicks VS Detroit Pistons Pick and Predictions 01/15/2023

Game: 1:10 PM ET,  Sunday, January 15th, 2023

Venue: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan

TV:  NBA League Pass

Knicks: 24-19, 6th place Eastern Conference

Pistons: 12-34, 14th place Eastern Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Knicks -7.5, O/U 224.5

PointsBet: Point Spread: Knicks -7.5, O/U 225

Fanduel: Point Spread: Knicks -7.5, O/U 225.5

Knicks: SF RJ Barrett, PF Julius Randle, C Mitchell Robinson, SG Quentin Grimes, PG Jalen Brunson

Pistons: SF Saddiq Bey, PF Bojan Bogdanovic, C Nerlens Noel, SG Killian Hayes, PG Jaden Ivey

An NBA Eastern Conference mismatch… with questionable motivation about winning vs losing for the underdog.  The New York Knicks took a big gamble in the last offseason by signing guard Jalen Brunson away from the Mavericks and into a very big contract.  Observers knew just how big a gamble this was because Brunson was then playing alongside PG Luka Doncic.. So there was a big chance that the Knicks could have been signing an NBA role player to big money…something that has killed the Knicks over the last two decades… But it turns out they were right.  Jalen Brunson is a big time NBA player!  To this point he has been very capable of scoring and leadership… two things the Knicks lacked last season.  More moves will come… but the Knicks for now are happy to have a squad with a newly minted star… that are resting in 6th place in the East with a solid shot at postseason battles to come.  The Detroit Pistons are clearly not trying to field a team with any chance of winning games. They are fully in the hunt of ping-pong balls for this coming NBA draft Lottery that will change some bad teams fortunes.  The only way to get more of those BALLS is to lose.  So what they consistently do is play very young guards, they are developing for the future, alongside B- forwards.  They are hoping that next season they have a core of 1) Victor W from FRANCE at Center, 2) Cade Cunningham at Point Guard, and 3) Saddiq Bey at Small Forward… everything else on the roster is trade bait to build around that core…. But what if they don’t win the NBA draft Lottery?... They will be stuck for several years with a bad roster.  The great betting opportunity is not just in knowing the Knicks are likely winners of the matchup… but in deciding how many points you are willing to risk on the spread.

The New York Knicks have won 6 of their last ten games.  They are on a 2-game winning streak… They have gone 6-4 ATS over the last 10.  The Knicks won their last game 112-108 over the Washington Wizards just barely covering a -3.5 spread.  They did it on the road which leads us to point out that the Knicks so far this season are better on the road than at home… 13-8 vs 11-11.  In the win PG Jalen Brunson got 34 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists… PF Julius Randle (yet another of the many guys LeBron should have hung onto in Los Angeles) added 23 points & 16 big rebounds.  The Knicks have a solid roster with SF RJ Barret adding 17 points, C Mitchell Robinson 10 rebounds, and bench guard Isiah Quickley adding 18 points.  SG Quentin Grimes had a really bad shooting night, but the Knicks were able to overcome it.

The Detroit Pistons have won 4 of their last 10 games which may be their best 10 game stretch all season.  They lost their last game though, to the New Orleans Pelicans 116-100… losing a very close +5.5 spread.  A lot of NBA games break very closely around the spread.  The Pistons were playing without young star PG Cade Cunningham (He has been out a while).  They did get 22 points from PF Bojan Bogdanovic and 20 points from SF Saddiq Bey and 19 point off the bench from 6’5 Point Guard Hamidou Diallo.  This was a game that Detroit could have won since the Pelicans are missing both their star forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram… but the Pistons defensive missteps were frequent and occasionally shocking.  Young teams often suffer from poor defense… The Pistons have a very bad and contagious case of it.

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NY: 24-19, 23-18-2 ATS, 22-20-1 O/U, 13-8 on the road.

DET: 12-34, 20-23-3 ATS, 27-18-1 O/U, 6-15 in home games.

The Knicks are 15th in scoring with 114 points per game, 3rd in rebounds with 47.4 per game, 20th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7, and 24th in blocked shots with 4.2 per game.

The Pistons are 19th in scoring with 112.3 points per game, 21st in rebounds with 42.5 per game, 27th in AST/TO ratio with 1.5, and 28th in blocked shots with 3.6 per game.

Our prediction for Sunday, January 15th is…. Knicks 119 - Pistons 110

Check the spread and then bet the Knicks. Against these Pistons the Knicks should cover anything up to -8.5. reliably.

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(will update)

Knicks: PF Julius Randle.  Julius leads this Knicks team in scoring and rebounds.  He plays the power forward position with a very satisfying mix of skill and power.  Against a team like Detroit who can only put either a kid on him or an undersized shooting forward with No Muscle at all… Julius should mow down the easy points and rebounds all game long.  

Pistons: C Nerlens Noel.  Yes, Nerlens is still in the league.  He is still actually a 6’11 athletic player. With Stewart and Duren sidelined the last few games Noel has inherited a starting spot.  The Pistons had hoped his playing time would earn an offer or two for his services at the trade deadline.. Or at least garner some interest in him as a “throw in” piece if a good offer for Bojan Bogdanovic comes in.  We will see.

Knicks: Tom “He has softened a little” Thibodeau

Pistons: Dwayne “misses the Raptors still” Casey