It will be a borderline must-win situation for the Detroit Pistons when the NBA playoffs continue on Monday night with their Game 4 showdown against the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference first round. Orlando holds a 2-1 lead and has another game at home before the series moves back to Detroit. Tipoff on Monday is set for 8:00 pm ET on NBC.
Let’s dive into my Pistons vs. Magic Game 4 prediction.
Detroit Pistons vs. Orlando Magic odds
Money line: Pistons -158 / Magic +134
Spread: Pistons -2.5 (-110) / Magic +2.5 (-110)
Total: Over 214.5 (-110) / Under 214.5 (-110)
Detroit Pistons vs. Orlando Magic best bet: Pistons -2.5 (-110)
Just like in the Atlanta vs. New York series, the higher-seeded team lost Game 3 to trail 2-1 only to be favored by more in Game 4 than it was at the start of its Game 3 loss. What does that mean? It means Vegas is simply begging you to take the underdogs at an inflated price. If you fell for it with the Hawks in Game 3 against the Knicks, it was bad news for you. As +2.5 underdogs, the Hawks lost 114-98 at home in a contest that was never competitive. The oddsmakers want you to do the same thing with the Magic also priced as +2.5 underdogs after winning Game 3 at home.
Don’t go into the trap, however, because there are reasons to think that Detroit will rebound. The Magic shot 11 percentage points better than the Pistons from three-point range in Game 3. Orlando is also unlikely to attempt nine more free-throws than Detroit like it did on Saturday. The Pistons certainly aren’t an elite three-point shooting team, but they were far better during the regular season than their 30.0 percentage from downtown so far in the playoffs. Additionally, they attempted the third-most free-throws in the NBA during the regular season. Expect them to return to that aggressiveness in Game 4 and get to the charity stripe with frequency.
Moreover, you have to think improvement is in the cards for Jalen Duren. Detroit’s star big man is averaging an anemic 9.0 ppg and 8.3 rpg in this series. In the regular season, he averaged 19.5 ppg and 10.5 rpg. In four regular-season head-to-head matchups with the Magic, Duren averaged 17.8 ppg and 11.0 rpg. There is no reason why he can’t get back to those numbers.
The Pistons have already proven that they know how to bounce back from a loss. After dropping the series opener, they dominated 98-83 in Game 2.
I would not expect the same kind of thing from the Pistons in the playoffs, it’s different now, more physical and the Magic play them well on d holding them off, Pistons haven’t scored more than 105 in a game so far, what does that tell you, that they won’t score much and probably not enough to win, I’ll take the Magic by at least 5 and to score at least 108.
A bit surprised you didn’t go with the bigger game tonight, NBA title favs the Nugs could get upset in R1.
Magic up by 7 to start the 4th.
Magic get it by 6, 94-88.
It looks like another top team is going out, it would be only the 5th time in a 7 game series that an 8 seed would take out a 1 seed in R1. With the Pistons likely out, things got interesting in the East, it looks like the Celts have it now, but can one of the underdogs do something.
The OKC Thunder are the 1st team into the next round sweeping the Suns.
Nugs get game 5, with Minny’s star player Edwards and another starter now out for the series, it looks like the Nugs might finally take this.