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NBA betting action takes us out west as the Golden State Warriors host the Detroit Pistons.  Neither team is going anywhere, with the exception of the NBA draft lottery.  Detroit is 8 games out of the final playoff spot in the East while Golden State is 16 games out of the Western Conference’s final postseason berth.  At this point in the season, one of two things happen with teams like this–either they pack it in completely just trying to play out the string as quickly and painlessly as possible, or else they start to ‘play loose’ and compete.  The second type of team is pointspread gold–contending teams often overlo0k them, they’ll frequently be getting a ton of points and often will be giving significant playing time to marginal NBA players who want to prove they belong in the league and know that pulling down 7 figures as a pro hoops benchwarmer is much better than coaching youth basketball at the local rec center.

DETROIT PISTONS VS. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS:

At one point this season we were using the Golden State Warriors frequently for one reason–they play an uptempo style that many teams have problems adjusting to.  This is particularly true of teams from the East who don’t play Golden State frequently enough to adapt to their run and gun style.  That’s why Golden State is a respectable 12-8 ATS in non-conference games.  That was then, however, and this is now and now the Warriors are just a bad team.  To look at it another way, do you *really* want to be laying points with a team that has won only 3 of their L18 games?

Detroit isn’t exactly tearing it up, but they’ve started to show some backbone covering 3 of their L4 games with 2 outright wins.  They’re at least reasonably healthy, unlike the Warriors who have an injury report that looks like a hospital patient roster.  In addition to injuries, the Warriors are fighting a flu bug that has been going through the locker room.  Not that they ever really did, but with all of the injuries Golden State really doesn’t have the personnel to make their style of play work.  The result is a team that plays ragged basketball, turns the ball over a lot and can’t stop anyone defensively (Warriors rank last in the NBA in PPG allowed and FG% allowed).  Richard Hamilton and Ben Gordon should shred this sloppy Golden State team that stopped caring a long time ago.

PLAY DETROIT +4 OVER GOLDEN STATE