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The Detroit Pistons will be favorites when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night, but bettors should have their eyes firmly on the Total.
The Pistons have gone Under the Total in seven out of their last nine games with one push. For the season, Detroit has gone Under the Total in 25 of 41 games.
And with Detroit's second leading scorer, Richard Hamilton, coming off the bench now, bettors need to look closely at the point total for this 7 pm ET telecast on ESPN.
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Hamilton has been one of the best shooting guards in the NBA since he was acquired by Detroit in 2002, but he never came off the bench with the team before last Wednesday night's home game with Toronto.
Detroit (24-17) scored 95 points in that contest but held the Raptors to a measly 76 and Detroit got the easy cover of 5 ½-points. The Pistons have only gone over the 100 point mark once in the last 15 games and the same for their opponents.
And if Hamilton only plays 21 minutes off the bench again, with Amir Johnson starting in his place, it's hard to see how this team will get enough offense, especially with center Rasheed Wallace still struggling from the floor.
Dallas is 24-18 on the year and coming off their most embarrassing loss of the season, 133-99 at the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. That was an unacceptable defensive effort, and you can be sure that coach Rick Carlisle will have his team give a much better defensive performance on Friday, another point leaning towards the Under.
For the year, Dallas has gone Under the Total 24 times versus just 18 for the Under. That might seem surprising given they have three 18+ PPG scorers in Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, and Josh Howard. However, this team is very inconsistent offensively and they can be handled by a good defensive team at home, like Detroit.
Also note that the Total has gone Under the last four times these teams have met. Last February in Detroit, the Mavs were held to just 67 points on 30% shooting from the field. Detroit won the game 90-67.
And while things shouldn't be that bad for Dallas this time around, it could be headed in that direction.
Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
