{"id":632233,"date":"2026-03-01T12:13:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/632233\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T12:13:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:13:59","slug":"nba-picks-odds-best-bets-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/632233\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA picks, odds, best bets Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our\u00a0editorial standards<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n

The hype train around the Cavaliers has completely left the station. <\/p>\n

Oddsmakers at various sportsbooks list the Cavaliers as favorites to win the Eastern Conference<\/a> ahead of the Pistons, who are 5.5 games ahead of the Celtics and 7.5 games ahead of the Cavs.<\/p>\n

How fitting that these two division rivals will meet in Detroit on Friday night.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a perfect opportunity for the world to see if the new-look Cavaliers are actually on the same level as the Pistons.<\/p>\n

Cavaliers vs. Pistons prediction, best bet<\/p>\n

The Pistons now have the best record in the NBA after beating the Thunder on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

They are combining suffocating defense with an offense that loves to get into the paint and attack.<\/p>\n

That offensive attack is led by Cade Cunningham, who could end up being the NBA MVP<\/a> if the required games played rule ends up removing other candidates in his way. <\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t make him less qualified as a candidate.<\/p>\n

\"DetroitDetroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers center Evan Mobley (4) defends. AP<\/p>\n

Cunningham is producing at a mind-boggling level.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s averaging 25.4 points per game \u2014 a shade below his career-high 26.1 ppg mark from last season \u2014 and dishing out 9.8 assists, which ranks second in the NBA<\/a> behind Nikola Jokic (10.5).<\/p>\n

His 9.8 assists account for 25.2 points per game, per NBA Advanced Stats, which means he\u2019s responsible for more than 50 points per game for a team that scores 117 each night.<\/p>\n

He looks nearly unstoppable right now, and the Cavaliers will have a difficult time slowing him down.<\/p>\n

Betting on the NBA? <\/p>\n

The Cavs lack the defenders in their starting lineup who can prevent Cade from getting to his spots.<\/p>\n

If they bring in better on-ball defenders like Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder off the bench, Cunningham can just shoot over them.<\/p>\n

Add in the fact that James Harden and Donovan Mitchell are dealing with injuries<\/a>, and I think the Pistons have the edge here at home.<\/p>\n

Detroit\u2019s physicality up front should wear Cleveland down enough for the Pistons to put this game away.<\/p>\n

The play: Pistons -7<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He\u2019s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,212,193,296,188,3860,6,214,297,66,215,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-632233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","11":"tag-detroit","12":"tag-detroit-pistons","13":"tag-detroitpistons","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-betting","16":"tag-pistons","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-betting","19":"tag-sports-picks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116153869685924472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}