Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves are battling for a top-four seed in the Western Conference heading into Thursday\u2019s clash with the Detroit Pistons.<\/p>\n
Detroit is down Cade Cunningham (collapsed lung) at the moment, but it still has a four-game lead over the Boston Celtics for the No. 1 seed in the East. The Pistons have defied expectations, going 6-2 since Cunningham was injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, they\u2019re set as home favorites on Thursday night against a Wolves team that has title expectations after making the Western Conference Finals in each of the last two seasons.<\/p>\n
Minnesota has not been great since the All-Star break, ranking 17th in the NBA in net rating (+0.7). Edwards did miss time with a knee injury in late March, but the Wolves have to play at a higher level if they\u2019re going to compete with OKC and San Antonio in the West.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a breakdown of Thursday\u2019s game, including the latest odds, a player prop target and my prediction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Timberwolves vs. Pistons Odds, Spread and Total<\/p>\n
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/p>\n Spread<\/p>\n Timberwolves +3.5 (-115)Pistons -3.5 (-105)<\/p>\n Moneyline<\/p>\n Timberwolves: +136Pistons: -162<\/p>\n Total<\/p>\n 224.5 (Over -112\/Under -108)Timberwolves vs. Pistons How to WatchDate: Thursday, April 2Time: 7:00 p.m. ESTVenue: Little Caesars ArenaHow to Watch (TV): Prime VideoTimberwolves record: 46-29Pistons record: 55-21Timberwolves vs. Pistons Injury ReportsTimberwolves Injury ReportAnthony Edwards \u2013 questionableEnrique Freeman \u2013 outZyon Pullin \u2013 outRocco Zikarsky \u2013 outJaden McDaniels \u2013 outPistons Injury ReportCade Cunningham \u2013 outMarcus Sasser \u2013 questionableIsaiah Stewart \u2013 outIsaac Jones \u2013 outBobi Klintman \u2013 outChaz Lanier \u2013 outTimberwolves vs. Pistons Best NBA Prop BetsTimberwolves Best NBA Prop BetAnthony Edwards OVER 25.5 Points (-120)<\/p>\n Can Anthony Edwards have a big scoring game against Detroit? He\u2019s one of the top targets I have in the prop market<\/a> on Thursday:\u00a0<\/p>\n Anthony Edwards came off the bench on Tuesday night and played less than half the game against the Dallas Mavericks in a blowout win for the Minnesota Timberwolves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, he\u2019s expected to return to the starting lineup on Thursday, which should immediately raise his ceiling as a scorer against a tough Detroit defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n Edwards missed the Timberwolves\u2019 first game with Detroit, but the star guard is averaging 29.3 points per game this season while shooting an impressive 49.3 percent from the field and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc.\u00a0<\/p>\n This discounted number is likely due to Edwards\u2019 injury and potential minutes restriction, but he\u2019s been too effective scoring the ball this season for me to fade him here. The Wolves should end up in a close game, which could keep Edwards out there for closer to 30 minutes on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Timberwolves vs. Pistons Prediction and Pick<\/p>\n Earlier today, I shared in my NBA Best Bets column \u2013 Peter\u2019s Points<\/a> \u2013 why I like the Timberwolves to cover as road dogs:\u00a0<\/p>\n The Detroit Pistons are 6-2 straight up since Cade Cunningham went down with a collapsed lung, but they have a tough test against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.<\/p>\n Minnesota is coming off a blowout win against Dallas in Anthony Edwards\u2019 return to action, and the star guard scored 17 points in just over 22 minutes of action. I\u2019d expect a bigger role for Edwards in what should be a close game on Thursday, which has led me towards the Wolves as 3.5-point underdogs.<\/p>\n Detroit has been one of the best home teams (record wise) in the NBA this season, but it\u2019s just 15-18 against the spread when favored. Now, the Pistons did blow out the Edwards-less Timberwolves in Minnesota, so there is some risk involved here with such a short line.<\/p>\n Still, Minnesota is a .500 team when it comes to covering the spread as a road underdog, and Edwards adds a major punch to this offense, which scored just 87 points in the loss to Detroit in late March.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Pistons have some offensive holes without Cunningham, and I think this is a spot to sell high against another playoff-caliber team.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pick: Timberwolves +3.5 (-115 at DraftKings)<\/a><\/p>\n Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n Find Peter Dewey’s\u00a0NBA betting record here<\/a>\u00a0(futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on \u00a0BetStamp here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Claim the latest\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and win your first $5 bet to get\u00a0$200 in bonus bets instantly.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves are battling for a top-four seed in the Western Conference heading into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-694192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116336056537132904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694192","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=694192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}