Pistons-Spurs Preview

[duncan228]

http://www.nba.com/games/20080110/DE...scoreboardhome

Pistons-Spurs Preview
By Mike Lipka, STATS Writer

Last week, the Detroit Pistons were cruising to their season-high 11th straight win. Now, they'll have to beat the defending NBA champions on the road to avoid their first three-game losing streak of 2007-08.

The Pistons visit San Antonio on Thursday for the teams' first meeting this season, as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich takes his second shot at his 600th career win.

Since their streak in which they won each game by an average of nearly 17 points, the Pistons (26-9) have struggled. Detroit has shot just 39.9 percent from the field over the last two games while failing to score more than 86 points in either game against two of the league's elite teams.

After a 92-85 home loss to Boston on Saturday, Detroit fell 102-86 at Dallas on Wednesday, allowing 100 points in a game for just the second time in the last 14. The Mavericks shot 56.8 percent, the highest of any Pistons opponent this season.

"Always when you're playing at a high level, you're always concerned at some point about a little let-up," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. "You can have a let-up, you cannot play well, but it shouldn't affect your effort. I didn't think we gave a consistent effort."

The Pistons also allowed Dallas to shoot 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from 3-point range, the best by an opponent this season.

Detroit hadn't lost two straight since Nov. 16-18, and they only lost three consecutive games once last season.

It won't get any easier against the Spurs (23-10), even though San Antonio is just 6-7 in its last 13 games. The Spurs are 17-2 at the AT&T Center - the league's best home mark - as they begin a four-game homestand.

San Antonio gave up 18 points in overtime on Monday, falling on the road to Golden State 130-121. Tim Duncan had 32 points and 13 rebounds and Tony Parker added 31 points, but the Warriors were 14-of-31 from beyond the arc.

"I thought our effort was great, and in the end we got beat from the 3-point line,'' said Popovich, who is 599-286 in 12 seasons in San Antonio. "They did a good job knocking down those shots, and hit a couple in overtime.

"We did a great job, and Golden State did a little bit better job. They earned it."

Duncan has dominated the Pistons at home throughout his career. He's recorded double-doubles in all 10 regular-season games, averaging 20.3 points and 13.2 rebounds in leading San Antonio to a 9-1 record.

Parker, who finished one point short of his season high on Wednesday, is averaging 15.1 points in 12 career games against the Pistons.

San Antonio's opponents average just 92.5 points this season, third-lowest in the NBA behind Detroit and Boston. As a result, the Pistons and Spurs typically don't allow many points when they meet. They've split the last four meetings while averaging 164 points combined.

[duncan228]

Spurs.com

http://www.nba.com/spurs/gameday/080110.html

Spurs vs. Pistons Preview

Probable Starters

T. Parker
Guard
20.6 PPG
M. Finley
Guard
10.6 PPG
B. Bowen
Forward
6.3 PPG
T. Duncan
Forward
18.6 PPG
R. Horry
Forward
1.9 PPG

Injury/Inactive Report
Barry (torn plantaris muscle, left calf) is out.

The Pistons visit San Antonio on Thursday for the teams' first meeting this season, as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich takes his second shot at his 600th career win.

After a 92-85 home loss to Boston on Saturday, Detroit fell 102-86 at Dallas on Wednesday, allowing 100 points in a game for just the second time in the last 14. The Mavericks shot 56.8 percent, the highest of any Pistons opponent this season.

Detroit hadn't lost two straight since Nov. 16-18, and they only lost three consecutive games once last season.

It won't get any easier against the Spurs (23-10). The Spurs are 17-2 at the AT&T Center - the league's best home mark - as they begin a four-game homestand.

San Antonio gave up 18 points in overtime on Monday, falling on the road to Golden State 130-121. Tim Duncan had 32 points and 13 rebounds and Tony Parker added 31 points, but the Warriors were 14-of-31 from beyond the arc.

Duncan has dominated the Pistons at home throughout his career. He's recorded double-doubles in all 10 regular-season games, averaging 20.3 points and 13.2 rebounds in leading San Antonio to a 9-1 record.

Parker, who finished one point short of his season high on Wednesday, is averaging 15.1 points in 12 career games against the Pistons.

San Antonio's opponents average just 92.5 points this season, third-lowest in the NBA behind Detroit and Boston. As a result, the Pistons and Spurs typically don't allow many points when they meet. They've split the last four meetings while averaging 164 points combined.

Spur in the Spotlight
Tim Duncan
Duncan is averaging 20.3 points and 13.2 rebounds in leading San Antonio to a 9-1 record in his career against the Pistons.

Did You Know...
San Antonio captured its third NBA Championship with a win over Detroit in 2005 in a thrilling seven-game series … Tim Duncan captured his third career NBA Finals MVP, making him just the second player – Michael Jordan was the other - to earn MVP honors in their first three trips to the Finals … David Robinson became just the fourth player in NBA history to record a quadruple-double on 2/17/94 vs. Detroit when he scored 34 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, blocked 10 shots and handed out 10 assists … the Spurs held the Pistons to 64 points on .259 (21-81) shooting on 2/21/99 … that is a Spurs franchise-record for lowest field goal percentage by an opponent … Pistons assistant Terry Porter spent three seasons with the Silver and Black where he averaged 7.3 points in 220 games.

[duncan228]

Pistons.com

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/DETS...0_preview.html

Pistons at Spurs Gameday
by Keith Langlois

Last Meeting: San Antonio won 104-80 (October 20, 2007 - preseason)

The skinny: The Spurs know better than anyone the perils of defending an NBA championship, having won four of them in the last nine seasons but never repeating. It hasn’t been an easy le defense so far this season, either, with all three of San Antonio’s All-Stars – Tim Duncan (four), Tony Parker (four) and Manu Ginobili (five) – having missed games. In fact, only Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Michael Finley have played in all 33 Spurs games so far. Yet San Antonio takes a 23-10 record into tonight’s game, tied with Phoenix in the loss column atop the Western Conference. If the Spurs appear slightly more vulnerable this season, it’s because some of their role players haven’t played to previous levels so far. Finley, for instance, is shooting 39 percent. Robert Horry, who skipped the first 18 games for what the club termed a private matter, moved into the starting lineup as San Antonio’s nominal center five games ago, replacing Oberto, but is averaging 1.9 points and shooting 23 percent. Oberto, Francisco Elson and Matt Bonner all see significant frontcourt minutes. Free-agent pickup Ime Udoka is being groomed as Bowen’s successor to be the defensive stopper who can hit the occasional 3-point shot. Though still considered an elite defensive team – the Spurs are third in the league in points allowed per game behind Boston and Detroit and fourth in point differential – San Antonio is uncharacteristically low (21st) in opponent’s field-goal percentage (.457).

What to watch: While the Pistons were getting rolled at Dallas on Wednesday night, the Spurs were home watching on ESPN, off since Monday night’s overtime loss at Golden State. The good news, if you want to call it that, is that Dallas took the fight out of the Pistons so thoroughly by the early moments of the fourth quarter that Flip Saunders yanked his starters and didn’t extend any of them more than the 31 minutes Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton played. Tayshaun Prince’s performance will bear monitoring tonight after his second consecutive flat outing against Dallas, when he shot 1 of 7 and collecting only one rebound. Stopping Tony Parker’s dribble penetration is always critical against the Spurs. San Antonio has missed all three of its superstars – Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili – for stretches of time this season, yet all are back now. Rookie guards Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo will face a little baptism by fire when they get matched up against the All-Star backcourt of Parker and Ginobili.

Probable Starters

Prince
McDyess
Wallace
Hamilton
Billups

[Supreme_Being]

Thanks. It's well appreciated.

[ancestron]

Rookie guards Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo will face a little baptism by fire when they get matched up against the All-Star backcourt of Parker and Ginobili.

[SouthernFried]

Though still considered an elite defensive team – the Spurs are third in the league in points allowed per game behind Boston and Detroit and fourth in point differential – San Antonio is uncharacteristically low (21st) in opponent’s field-goal percentage (.457).

I think this discrepency comes from the Spurs playing "slow ball."

We slow the game down, reducing points made in a game...but, are playing bad Defense allowing high percentage scoring on opposing teams. Our half court D is some of the worse I've seen in recent years.

[ancestron]

Our half court D is some of the worse I've seen in recent years.

I agree. Its as if they don't know what to do half the time. If the ol' swing it around the horn to an open 3, or post Duncan and clear out isn't there, they appear lost.

[JamStone]

Flip has been reluctant to play Stuckey and Afflalo together against good teams with good back courts unless it's against the back-ups. I'm sure Stuckey feels similarly at the thought of playing against Jacque Vaughn.

[ancestron]

Flip has been reluctant to play Stuckey and Afflalo together against good teams with good back courts unless it's against the back-ups. I'm sure Stuckey feels similarly at the thought of playing against Jacque Vaughn.

Yeah you're probably right. I just got excited by the whole "baptism by fire" expression.

[duncan228]

http://sports-odds.com/basketball/01...nio-spurs.html

NBA Picks: Detroit Pistons at San Antonio Spurs

The Detroit Pistons continue their Texas two step as they face the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday. The Pistons were in Dallas last night taking on the Mavericks. It will not be an easy game for the Pistons considering that the Spurs last played on Monday and are well rested.

SBG Global reports that early NBA betting has the public taking Spurs at Home.

NBA Betting Preview
Detroit Pistons at San Antonio Spurs
Thursday, 8:05 pm Eastern – TNT

SBG Global Opening Line: Spurs - 3.5 , Total 181.5

The Spurs are coming off a 130-121 loss to Golden State on Monday. There was some good news for the Spurs in that game as they finally scored some points. They lost for the seventh time in 13 games but at least they made some shots. "When we've lost games this year, we've not made shots," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Our defense has been good, we just haven't generated much offense." That changed on Monday and the Spurs hope it carries over to Thursday night’s game. "(Before) shots just weren't going down for us," Tim Duncan said. "But we always knew our offense would find its rhythm."

SBG Global Current Line: Spurs - 4 , Total 180

Manu Ginobili came off the injured list Sunday and now the Spurs are almost at full strength. Brent Barry is still out with a torn calf muscle though and he is a key reserve. "We haven't had our entire club together for the last (several) games," Duncan said. "It will take us a while to get back in a rhythm with each other, and then the offense will come."

The Pistons are playing in a back-to-back situation that is part of a four games in five night stretch that has the Pistons playing 7 games in 11 days. The Pistons may be relying upon their bench with so many games in such a short period of time.

The Pistons had no success against the Spurs last season losing both games. The Spurs won at Detroit 90-81 and also won at home 90-89. The Spurs led by as many as 13 points in that home game but had to hold off a late Detroit rally. Rasheed Wallace led the Pistons in that game with 21 points. Tony Parker had 22 points while Tim Duncan had 17 points and 14 rebounds in that win.

Here are the NBA betting stats for Thursday’s game. The Pistons are 5-0-1 ATS in their last 6 vs. the Southwest. The Pistons are 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. The Pistons are 5-0-1 ATS in their last 6 vs. the Western Conference. The Pistons are 8-1-1 ATS in their last 10 games playing on no rest. The Pistons are 20-6-1 ATS in their last 27 games overall. The Pistons are 17-7-1 ATS in their last 25 games as a road underdog. The Pistons are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 Thursday games. The underdog is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings between the two teams and the road team is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings.

The Spurs are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 vs. the Central. The Spurs are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 vs. the Eastern Conference. The Spurs are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. The Spurs are 18-8-1 ATS in their last 27 games as a home favorite. The Spurs are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall.

The Under is 4-0 in the Pistons last 4 games playing on no rest. The Under is 4-0 in the Pistons last 4 vs. the Western Conference. The Under is 10-2 in the Pistons last 12 vs. the Southwest. The Under is 10-3 in the Pistons last 13 overall. The Under is 48-20-1 in the Pistons last 69 games as a road underdog.

The Under is 5-1 in the Spurs last 6 Thursday games. The Under is 7-3 in the Spurs last 10 games as a favorite. The Under is 9-4 in the Spurs last 13 overall. The Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between the two teams.