Detroit Pistons at Golden State Warriors Betting Preview/Prop Pick

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— Tuesday, January 18th Detroit Pistons @ Golden State Warriors

Tonight we have a matchup between the young Detroit Pistons and seasoned Golden State Warriors. The Pistons, obviously heavy underdogs here, come off a 135-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Overall the Pistons have a 10-32 record but have a promising young cast of players. Whether these players will be able to cover the spread tonight is a completely different question.

The Golden State Warriors are also coming off of a loss tonight. A few days ago, they faced the Minnesota Timberwolves and lost 119-99. As they prepare to face the Pistons, they might have to do so without Stephen Curry.

Draymond Green has also been ruled out in this Tuesday night matchup. So, without two of their best players, can they cover the 15-point spread on Tuesday?

Detroit Pistons: Detroit has had some notable wins lately

Although their record is one of the worst in the NBA, don’t count the Pistons out yet. Recently, they’ve scored some big wins, one of which was over the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz is the No.4 team in the Western Conference, so the Pistons are doing something right. The problem has been consistency within their younger players. If they can fix that, the Pistons could be a strong team.

For tonight, however, they need to focus on the players missing from the Warriors lineup. We already know Draymond Green is out, so they need to attack the interior.

The Pistons are one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA, 41.75% from the field; getting inside is paramount. They also can’t shoot from the 3PT line, at 31.37%. The Warriors, however, don’t have that problem.

Golden State Warriors: How badly will injuries slow them down?

So far, the only player confirmed out for this game is Draymond Green. However, Stephen Curry and Gary Payton II are “day-to-day.” Now, the injuries to the Warriors lineup are crucial to this spread. Green and Payton II might not contribute a lot to the point total, but Curry does.

The good news is they got one key piece of their lineup back into the mix that will help with scoring.

Now that Klay Thompson is back, the offense has been a lot more productive. Their average now is 109.9 points per game, ranking 12th in the NBA. Thompson also knows how to run an offense in Curry’s absence, so the Warriors shouldn’t skip a beat.

Fifteen points is a lot to cover, but they beat Chicago by over 40. They shouldn’t have a problem covering against Detroit.

Our pick for the Detroit Pistons at Golden State Warriors

We understand why some might want to avoid this game. It’s a large spread, with plenty of injuries on both sides.

However, Golden State has gone 24-17-2 against the spread this season, making them a trustworthy pick. They were also able to beat the Chicago Bulls, No.1 in the Eastern Conference, by over 40 points. 

With that being said, we’ll definitely roll with the Warriors here. They have a 7-3 record against the Pistons and have Klay Thompson run the offense.

There’s also a strong supporting cast of shooters such as Andrew Wiggins to help out. Take the Warriors -15 on Tuesday night and tag on the over as well.

DunkelIndex Free Pick: Golden State Warriors -15, OVER

Prop Pick

Golden State (-110) OVER 116.5 Points

The Warriors’ offense has sputtered of late, but should be able to take advantage of a Detroit defense that is giving up 111.3 points per game (ranked No. 24 in the league) on 47.3 percent from the field (No. 29) and 36.7 percent from beyond the arc (No. 28).

Returning home should also help Golden State, which averages almost 7 points more (113.3-106.7) in scoring and over 2 percentage points more (47.8-45.3) in FG percentage at Chase Center this season.

With Dunkel predicting a Golden State win by the score of 221-101, take the Warriors (-110) to finish OVER the Vegas team total of 116.5 points against the Pistons.

Be sure to check out all of today’s NBA picks!