Playoff Hopeful Suns Host Pistons
Goran Dragic and the Suns continue to battle for a postseason berth
Needing wins to climb back into playoff contention, the Phoenix Suns will look to take advantage of a visit from the slumping Detroit Pistons on Friday night.
Tip-off at US Airways Center is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET.
With less than a month left on the schedule, Phoenix (39-29, 23-13 home) finds itself in the midst of a furious race for the final playoff berths in the Western Conference.
The Suns enter play on Friday 1.5 games back of the Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks, currently occupying the seventh and eighth seed respectively. In order to complete the unthinkable task of making it to postseason play, the Suns need to somehow better either of those two sides over the next 14 games.
The Suns face a tough run in though. Nine of the side’s last 14 will be played on the road, while eight games will come against teams with a winning record. Compare that to the Mavericks, who also face eight teams with winning records but will play eight of their last 13 at home. The side from Texas has to be favored to finish above the Suns at this point.
It’s a different story for Memphis though. The Grizzlies will play nine of 15 games on the road to close out the year, and will face 10 opponents with a winning record, including a pair of games against the defending champions, the Miami Heat.
Fittingly, the Suns will meet both the Mavericks and the Grizzlies in the final week of the season. It’s safe to say nobody has it easy then.
With a victory over the Orlando Magic 109-83 on Wednesday, the Suns have now won three of their last four to shrug off a stint of seven losses in 10 games. If Jeff Hornacek’s side can continue to build on that momentum, it stands a good course of taking this race down to the last days of the season.
But some are beginning to question whether it might be better for the Suns to miss the playoffs and take a shot at winning the NBA lottery. Paul Coro of azcentral.com makes a good case for playoff experience trumping the unlikelihood of the Suns getting anything better than a No. 14 pick, something Hornacek – a playoff regular during his playing time with the Suns and Utah Jazz – is sure to agree with.
But to gain that experience, the Suns must first navigate the choppy waters of this last month, beginning with Friday’s game against the Pistons.
Despite being 17 games below .500, Detroit (25-42, 10-21 road) still has an outside shot at making its own run to the postseason as it sits 6.5 games back of the wounded Atlanta Hawks. Make no bones about it though; it would take a basketball miracle to see the Motown side make it into the postseason.
The Pistons began a four-game road swing with a trip to the Mile High City on Wednesday, where they threw away a lead and ultimately lost 118-109 to the Denver Nuggets. Josh Smith found himself ejected from the game after receiving a pair of technical fouls, while the Pistons lost a third straight game.
Having sat at a relatively comfortable (by Eastern Conference standings) 22-27, John Loyer’s side has now lost 13 of its last 16 and looks a dead cert to miss the playoffs. Online sportsbook Bovada thinks so; the Pistons are currently listed at 1000/1 to win a championship, and will in all likelihood fall off the futures list by this time next week.
Having lost 11 consecutive road games, the Pistons will look to pull off an upset on Friday – even if their fans will be hoping the team misses the playoffs so that a protected top-eight pick remains in play.
The Pistons earned a 110-108 victory over the Suns when the two sides met in Auburn Hills, Mich., back on January 11. Smith hit the game-winner in that one as he racked up 25 points and 11 boards to finish as one of three Pistons with a double-double.
Andre Drummond, who also had a double-double in that game, will miss Friday’s game with a neck injury.
Detroit Pistons vs. Phoenix Suns odds for 03/21/2014
Phoenix (-360) opened as the favorite over Detroit (+300) on the moneyline, thanks in part to a five-game home winning streak over the Pistons.
The Pistons have not won in the desert since February 24, 2008, when the side won 116-86 en route to the postseason and the Eastern Conference finals.
The spread opened at 8 and immediately climbed to 8.5.
No team in the NBA has covered the spread more times at home or overall than Phoenix (42-23-3) this season, something bettors will want to keep in mind. Detroit (29-38-0 ATS) has struggled heavily against the spread, although the Pistons have been better on the road where they’ve compiled a 14-17-0 ATS record.
Phoenix has covered in four of its last five home games against the Pistons.
The total opened at 217.
The high-scoring Suns (35-31-2) have slightly favored the over this season, although the total has gone under in four of the team’s last six contests.
No team in the NBA has seen the total go over more times than Detroit (46-21-0) though. The Pistons are watching the total go over twice for every time it goes under.
However, the total has gone under in six of the last eight head-to-head meetings, and four of the last five the two sides have played in Phoenix.
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