DTM’s Friday Night NBA Special | DET at MIL

Detroit Pistons (35-41) at Milwaukee Bucks (39-36)

When: 8:00 PM ET, Friday, March 31, 2017

Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

America’s Bookie Line: Milwaukee -9.5

TV Coverage: FSN Detroit, FSN Wisconsin

By Dan Leach

Follow Dan on Twitter @DanLeach971

The Pistons once promising season has become a disaster over the last two weeks and if Detroit wants any designs on getting back to the playoffs for the second straight year, they could really use a win over the red-hot Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. Detroit had lost five in a row before hanging on against the NBA worst Nets on Thursday night, a team that had beat them a little more than a week ago. The Pistons stand 2.5 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East and with six games to go, time is of the essence for Detroit to garner some wins.

Milwaukee has steadily moved up the Eastern Conference playoff standings and currently sits in the six spot, but are tied with five seed Atlanta in overall record. They are 78-34 in their last 10 and have been getting great production out of Khris Middelton and The Greek Freak and are starting to look like a team that will be a tough out no matter who they play in the first round of the postseason.

Detroit is on the other side of the spectrum. They have played lazy, uninspired hoops as of late for coach Stan Van Gundy and just saw one of their best players Kentavious Caldwell Pope get arrested for a DUI late Thursday morning. He ended up playing against the Nets, but it just goes to show that this team is busting at the seams in many ways aside from their awful on court play.

That is why this is a perfect spot for Detroit to get their act together, in a hostile road setting, with a ton on the line. I think the 9.5 points is absurd as, yes the Bucks have been playing well, but they are not almost 10 points better than Detroit. Look for the Pistons to give one of their best efforts in the last several weeks, and while they might not win this one outright, it will be an easy cover against with their playoff backs against the wall.

8 DTM Bagels and Locks on the Pistons (DET +9.5)

Dan Leach was the world’s first human to live under the sea for more than 60 days, created what is now used as the International Olympic Flag, was the basis of Denzel Washington’s character Frank Lucas in “American Gangster”, Is often consulted on matters of national “Sports Security”, was the first human to interview Dracula, started the American Revolution on a dare, once sat in on drums with Led Zeppelin, and is a noted expert in the field of Time Travel.