Nets @ Pistons preview and pick

[Champion Plays]

Eastern Conference semifinals
8.05pm ET
New Jersey Nets @ Detroit Pistons

We'll lay the wood tonight as the Detroit Pistons open their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the New Jersey Nets.

The Pistons are a dominant 33-11 SU at the Palace of Auburn Hills this season and allow just 83.3 ppg at home while scoring 91.8 ppg themselves. They are 8-4 ATS this season as a home favorite of 3.5 to 6 points.

Meantime the Nets actually have a losing record on the road at just 21-22 SU...they allow an average of 89.7 ppg on the highway while scoring 88.1 ppg.

Detroit will be desperate to atone tonight for the Nets sweep of the Conference finals last year and are a much-improved team with Rasheed Wallace in the line-up. The Nets had won six of the previous seven meetings with the Pistons prior to their first matchup since the Pistons acquired Wallace from the Atlanta Hawks. Detroit won that game at New Jersey 89-71 and held the Nets, who were missing Kidd and Martin, to just 35% shooting overall.

"They are a much improved team with Rasheed Wallace. That is a fact," Nets forward Richard Jefferson said after that game. "They are a better defensive team, they have a big man who can shoot, which they didn't have before."

The Nets had trouble handling the new front line of the Pistons and were outrebounded 47-37 as Detroit dominated inside.

New Jersey took care of the rebuilt New York Knicks in the opening round of the playoffs but prior to that series they had been playing poorly on the road. The Nets dropped recent games against the Celtics, Cavaliers, Pacers, Hawks and Heat and just scraped by the Wizards. It's also worth considering that they may be a little rusty tonight following an extended layoff as they haven't played since April 25.

Sometimes we can over-complicate things and spend too much time asking the question of who is going to cover, when really we should be reminded that the SU winner covers at a better than 84% clip....we'll go with the Pistons to win the game and get the cover tonight.

Recommended Play: Detroit -5.5

[Mondizzle]

GL