Two teams that should be busy on the phone leading up to the 3 p.m. EST NBA Trade Deadline Thursday meetup in Portland. Detroit, despite the NBA’s worst record, has won three of its last seven games after upsetting the Sacramento Kings on the road Wednesday, 133-120.
Portland has been playing better of late, too. The Blazers had home upsets of the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks before losing back-to-back games in Denver over the weekend. Can they pull away from the lowly Pistons?
Here’s the betting preview for Thursday with a best bet.
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Pistons vs. Blazers odds, spread and total
Pistons vs. Blazers how to watch
- Date: Thursday, Feb. 8
- Game time: 10 p.m. EST
- Venue: Moda Center
- How to watch (TV): Bally Sports
- Pistons record: 7-43
- Blazers record: 15-35
Pistons vs. Blazers injury reports
Detroit Pistons
- Shake Milton (recently traded): questionable
- Troy Brown Jr. (recently traded): questionable
- Cade Cunningaham (knee): questionable
- Bojan Bogdanovic (calf): questionable
Portland Trail Blazers
- Jabari Walker (ankle): probable
- Jerami Grant (back): probable
- Deandre Ayton (illness): questionable
- Scott Henderson (foot): questionable
Pistons vs. Blazers key players to watch
Pistons
Jaden Ivey: The second-year guard averages 15.2 points per game but has been on fire in February. In three games, Ivey is averaging 27.7 points and is coming off a 37-point performance on 13-of-23 shooting, knocking down five 3-pointers, in Detroit’s 133-120 upset of Sacramento on Wednesday.
Blazers
Deandre Ayton: The Portland big man has anchored the Blazers since returning from injury in mid-January. Ayton missed nearly a month, but returned and didn’t miss a beat. He’s averaged 16.2 points 7.7 rebounds over the last 10 games with four double-doubles. He poured in a season-high 27 points in Sunday’s 112-103 loss to Denver. He’s listed as questionable for Thursday with an illness.
Pistons vs. Blazers prediction and pick
Despite dropping back-to-back games against the defending NBA-champion Nuggets, the Blazers hung around, covering both games as a double-digit underdog. Portland has now covered six of its last eight games with three outright wins.
Can you trust Detroit’s offense? The Pistons rank 25th in the NBA in offensive rating and it’s not crazy to think they’re due for some negative regression.
Detroit ranks 20th in the NBA in effective field goal percentage and 22nd in perimeter shooting, but went off on Wednesday, shooting 56% from the field (47-of-84) and 54.8% from beyond the arc (17-of-31). Detroit is also a middle-of-the-road free-throw shooting team (No. 15), but were perfect (22-of-22) against the Kings.
Detroit could be without Cade Cunningham and Bojan Bogdanovic for a second straight game while Portland is getting healthier with leading scorer Jerami Grant (21.3 points per game) projected to return to the lineup for the first time this month.
The Blazers stay hot.
Game odds update periodically and are subject to change.