DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>. The Magic hold +102 odds of winning outright with the game total set at 222.5 points.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s dive into my preview and prediction for this Monday night matchup of these Eastern Conference opponents.<\/p>\n
Pistons at Magic preview, prediction<\/p>\n
The Detroit Pistons have officially clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference and hold a 57-21 record on the season. They enter this matchup on a three-game winning streak and have won eight of their last 10 since Cade Cunningham went down with his injury. On the season, the Pistons are 42-36 against the spread and the game total has remained under in 43 of their 78 games played.<\/p>\n
Cunningham was previously upgraded to doubtful for the matchup tonight before eventually being ruled out. While this still does not paint a promising picture for his availability, this is a major update moving forward. Tobias Harris, Isaiah Stewart, Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert are all out as well on what\u2019s an extensive injury report. Of the available players, Jalen Duren headlines the production with averages of 19.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game on the season. Daniss Jenkins has seen his role grow during Cunningham\u2019s absence, while Ausar Thompson, Kevin Huerter and Ron Holland also play notable roles.<\/p>\n
Detroit is scoring 117.5 points per game this season, which ranks eighth in the NBA. The Pistons also rank 10th in offensive rating, sixth in field-goal percentage, and 20th in three-point percentage. Defensively, opponents are scoring 109.4 points per game against the Pistons, which ranks third in the league. J.B. Bickerstaff\u2019s squad also ranks second in defensive rating, third in opponent field-goal percentage and first in opponent three-point percentage.<\/p>\n
It has been a strange season for the Orlando Magic. They have battled injuries all year and ultimately sit in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 42-36 overall record. Orlando is currently a half-game out of the eighth seed and one game out of the sixth and seventh seed, where the 76ers and Raptors are currently tied. The Magic enter this matchup coming off back-to-back wins, but have lost eight of their last 12. On the season, the Magic have gone 35-43 against the spread and the game total has gone over in 42 of their 78 games played.<\/p>\n
Franz Wagner will miss tonight\u2019s game due to ankle injury management, but made his return for the past three games and played some limited minutes. Jonathan Isaac and Jett Howard will also miss tonight\u2019s matchup, while Anthony Black is back in the lineup following an extensive absence. Paolo Banchero headlines the production with 22.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game. Desmond Bane has played his role well, posting averages of 20.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Black has had a breakout season with averages of 15.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. Jalen Suggs, Wendell Carter Jr., and Tristan Da Silva also play notable roles.<\/p>\n
As a team, the Magic are scoring 115.4 points per game, which ranks 15th in the NBA. They also rank 19th in offensive rating, 23rd in field goal percentage, and 27th in three-point percentage. Defensively, opponents are scoring 115.3 points per game, which ranks 15th in the league. Orlando also ranks 13th in defensive rating, 20th in opponent field goal percentage, and ninth in opponent three-point percentage.<\/p>\n
Pistons at Magic prediction, best bet<\/p>\n
This is a matchup that means far more to the Magic than it does to the Pistons, but this does not mean it is a clear path to a win. Detroit picked up a 135-116 win in the first matchup, Orlando won 112-109 in the second game, and the Pistons got back on track with a 106-92 win in the most recent game. This last meeting occurred on March 1st.<\/p>\n
Detroit is starting to give some additional rest with its playoff seeding locked up. This will especially be the case with the Magic in the pool of teams the Pistons could face in a postseason matchup if they earn their way out of the Play-In Tournament.<\/p>\n
Even with various injuries, the Pistons have embraced a next-man up mentality and built a foundation on physical play and toughness. Players like Daniss Jenkins have flourished with additional opportunities, and the team has gone an impressive 8-2 without Cunningham on the floor.<\/p>\n
Expect this identity to maintain, and for their toughness to be the difference against a flawed Magic team. The Magic brought in Desmond Bane this offseason to help solve their spacing issues, but the team still ranks 22nd in three-point volume and 27th in three-point efficiency. Facing a Pistons team that holds opponents to the worst three-point percentage in the league and a stiff interior defense as well, this will be a problem in this matchup.<\/p>\n
Orlando is just 4-8 in its last 12, including getting blown out by the Raptors and losing to the Pacers outright. The Magic are also 17-21 against the spread as a home team and have failed to cover the spread in two of the three games against Detroit. The Magic have failed to maximize their offensive production all year, and facing one of the toughest defenses in the league will continue to be problematic.<\/p>\n
Even with the Pistons giving some guys some rest, back them to assert themselves as the better team and get the victory in this matchup. The Magic have flaws that the Pistons are built to exploit. Expect Detroit to dominate the boards and for its defense to limit Orlando to score at the necessary rate to get a positive result. My lean is toward the game total remaining under, but I am backing the Pistons to notch another win tonight. <\/p>\n
Best Bet: Pistons Moneyline (-122)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sean Barnard details his preview and prediction for Monday\u2019s game between the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-702046","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\/116359900951145911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702046","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=702046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}