The Detroit Pistons and Miami Heat start the new season playing each other in Miami on Thursday night. The game will be a matchup of stars with the Pistons led by Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton while the Heat are led by Shaquille O’Neal. The biggest star of the game will not be playing though as Miami superstar guard Dwyane Wade will miss the game as he continues to recover from off-season surgery. SBG Global reports that early betting has the public taking Pistons on the Road.
NBA Betting Preview
Detroit Pistons at Miami Heat
Thursday, 8:05 pm Eastern – TNT
SBG Global Opening Line: Pistons -4.5, Total 181
Even though the Heat are missing Wade they still have Shaq and the newly acquired Ricky Davis who they got from Minnesota. “They’re down a little bit because of Dwyane not being there,” Detroit head coach Flip Saunders said, “But as long as they’ve got the big guy in the middle, they’re still going to be pretty good. He’s still the most difficult guy in the league to defend.” The Pistons will look to Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace to defend Shaq. Neither has had much success defending the Diesel in the past. “It’s always a tough task for any big to go against Shaq,” McDyess said. “We’ve just got to run him up the court and try to get him tired and have him go off pick and rolls. Mismatches are going to be there to exploit.”
SBG Global Current Line: Pistons -5, Total 181
Miami expects to win Thursday’s game even without Wade. Shaq expects to carry the load. It's very important," O'Neal said. "You always wake up the next day and see 1-0, not 0-1. You always want to be 1-0 and at the top of your standings, not start off at the bottom. It's been a long summer, everybody's been waiting anxiously for us to be back, so we'll try to give them a good show. And we will." The Heat do not want to get off to a poor start like they did a year ago. "I don't think about last year," O'Neal said. "Nobody cares about the past. You always look forward toward the future. Last year was a difficult year, a different year, but now we have a new year to look forward to." The head coach of the Heat had similar things to say about starting the new season. "I'm not thinking about last year," Miami head coach Pat Riley said. "Our guys are ready, as ready as we can be, and we know Detroit is solid." The Heat really are looking forward to the new season and the players seem really focused. "The regular season, we look at it as a platform going into the postseason," center Alonzo Mourning said. "We obviously want to win as many regular-season games as possible, so we can position ourselves for a higher seed. I think if we go in as a higher seed in last year's playoffs, it's a totally different scenario." It all starts for the Heat on Thursday night.
Here are the NBA Betting stats for Thursday’s game. The Pistons are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 Thursday games. The Pistons are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games as a road favorite. The Pistons are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games. The Pistons are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games as a favorite. The Pistons are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The Pistons are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 vs. the Eastern Conference. The Pistons are 1-7-1 ATS in the last 9 meetings between the two teams and the Pistons are 0-5 ATS in the last 5 meetings in Miami.
The Heat are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as a home underdog. The Heat are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 Thursday games. The Heat are 5-16-2 ATS in their last 23 vs. the Eastern Conference. The Heat are 1-4-2 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog. The Heat are 3-14-2 ATS in their last 19 games overall. The Heat are 0-4-1 ATS in their last 5 vs. the NBA Central. The Heat are 0-7 ATS in their last 7 home games. The home team is 6-0-1 ATS in the last 7 meetings between the two teams.
The Over is 5-1 in the Pistons last 6 vs. the Southeast. The Under is 38-14-1 in the Pistons last 53 Thursday games. The Over is 5-2 in the Pistons last 7 games as a favorite. The Over is 5-2 in the Pistons last 7 games as a road favorite.
The Under is 5-0 in Miami’s last 5 games as a home underdog. The Over is 6-1 in Miami’s last 7 vs. the Central. The Under is 12-5 in Miami’s last 17 Thursday games. The Under is 10-1-1 in the last 12 meetings in Miami between the two teams and the Under is 17-5-1 in the last 23 meetings overall.
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