It’s JB Bickerstaff’s birthday, and all I want him to receive is his Detroit Pistons mauling the Brooklyn Nets. The Pistons need a get-right game in the worst way. Their performance has slipped, and some of it is regression, some of it is not locking in, and some of it is confidence. It’s hard to fix the first, and the easiest way to fix the second is to solve for the third. That made sense in my head, anyway. The Pistons need to have a dominant defensive performance, and getting there is always easier when you’re seeing the ball go through the basket on the other end. Unfortunately, the Pistons will still be without Ausar Thompson, who remains out with an ankle sprain. Caris LeVert will be in street clothes as well. The Pistons have been in a funk since the trade deadline, but it metastasized in a dreadful performance against the Nets last week that saw the Pistons surrender a 23-point third-quarter lead. Getting back on the road to recovery requires them to annihilate the Nets.
When: 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Watch: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Odds: Pistons -15
Cade Cunningham, Marcus Sasser, Duncan Robinson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
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