Game Time: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, January 25th, 2022 

Venue:  Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread: Denver -7

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread: Denver -7.5; O/U 218

WynnBet: Spread:  Denver -7.5; O/U 218

Nuggets: 24-21, 6th place Western Conference

Pistons: 11-35, 14th place Eastern Conference

It’s back to back non-conference matchup time.  Last game Denver beat Detroit in Denver 117-111.  It was an ATS loss for Denver.  Then everybody from both teams got on planes and headed to Detroit to do it all over again in Detroit.  This is good news for Detroit as they win slightly better in Detroit than they do on the road… the problem for Detroit is they are still one of the worst teams in the entire league.  Detroit is so bad that if you to bet on them right now to win this year’s NBA Championship the Sportsbook would gladly give you 100,000 to 1 odds… Bet $100 to win a million!  Of course you would never get that million because they are also pretty close to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and we aren’t even at All-Star break yet.  The Pistons would need a record setting 24 game win streak just to get to .500 on the season… also they have no players walking through that door that will make them better now unless they pull off a trade for the mighty Ben Simmons, who would give them 15 pts a night on 40% FG shooting and 0% 3PT shooting.

The Denver Nuggets have last season’s MVP in C Nikola Jokic who is technically playing better this season.  The struggle in Denver is that they are simply missing too many starters to what are most likely season-ending injuries.  SG Jamal Murray is the legit #2 on this team and had surgery to repair a torn ACL… Michael Porter Jr who was their legit #3 on this team had lumbar spine surgery in an attempt to correct problems he has been having since high school.  MP may be out for the season and giving that his problem is a consistent multi-year back problem… we may never see him at full strength again as anyone’s #3 let alone Denver’s.  These problems leave a deep hole in the Denver roster which has no cap space or boatload of draft picks to address it with.  You can tell a friend you heard it hear first… but in a few years they will regret not trading C Nikola Jokic now… he is the type of player that would bring multiple young starters and a boatload of future picks in return… then the team would be ready for Jamal’s return and ready for the news that Michael Porter Jr is done and the Nuggets have to pay him for a few more seasons.  Insurance isn’t just something that gives us Chris Paull commercials… it’s also what every NBA team needs to consider when thinking of the difference between immediate relevance and generational irrelevance.  Denver has won 6 of their last 10 games but over the last month they have sunk from 4th place to 6th… and they failed to cover against the Pistons… and Nikola Jokic leads the team in Points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks… Any team that has a stat line like that, with 1 player leading in every category, simply doesn’t have enough good players.   

The Detroit Pistons lost their last game… that was nothing new as they have only won 4 of their last ten games and it has been their best ten game stretch of the season.  The Pistons drafted Cade Cunningham with the 1st overall pick in last year’s draft and Cade immediately became their best player.  The wait for a good team may or may not be a long one… The Pistons are in perfect position (horrible) to have a top-three if not the #1 overall pick again this season.  Then next season they will be terrible with two good young players… again and again and again… and then sometime around 2027 we may have a contender… just ask the Charlotte Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies how many years it will take before the draft finally pays off to relevancy?  A fun thing to watch when you watch the Pistons is just how poorly SG Josh Jackson #4 pick overall by Phoenix in 2017 and PG Killian Hayes #7 pick overall in 2020 play when they are on the court.  Killian still has a chance to develop but so far the grade is very low.

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Denver is 24-21 on the season, but 18-27 ATS.  They have logged 25 Overs and 20 Unders. They are 11-12 in road games.

Detroit is 11-35 on the season, but 23-23 ATS. They have notched 23 Overs, 22 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 7-14 in home games.

The Nuggets are 18th in scoring with 107.9 ppg, 27th in rebounds with 43 per game, and 3rd in AST/TO ratio with 2.0.  They are shooting 5th in FG%, 19th in 3PT%, and 16th in FT%.  On defense they rank 11th while allowing 106.9 ppg from opponents.

The Pistons are 29th in scoring with 102 ppg, 29th in rebounds with 42.5 per game, 29th in AST/TO ratio with 1.5. They are shooting 29th in FG%, 29th in 3PT%, and 14th in FT%.  They are ranked 24th on defense while allowing 111.6 ppg from opponents.

 

Our prediction for Tuesday, January 25th is…. Denver 118 - Detroit 101

Detroit will get crushed at home.  They got close in Denver and as a result has now won ATS 3-times in a row… They have not done it 4 in a row all season.  Winning against the spread last game and coming home for Detroit means the Nuggets will lay on the throttle since they are on the road against a terrible team.

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Denver is 3-2 ATS versus Detroit over the last 3 seasons.

4 of 5 games of this matchup have gone Over the last 3 seasons.

Detroit is 1-5 ATS on Tuesday nights this season.

Denver: SG Jamal Muray (knee) Out for season ** PF Michael Carter JR (back) Out for season.

Detroit: PG Frank Jackson (conditioning) Quest ** PF Kelly olynyk (illness) Out indefinitely

Denver: SF Will Barton, Pf Aaron gordon, C Nikola Jokic, PG Monte Morris, SG Austin Rivers

Detroit: PF Hamidou Diallo, SF Saddiq Bey, C Isaiah Stewart, SG Cade Cunningham, PG Cory Joseph

Denver

Points: Nikola Jokic 26.1

Assists: Nikola Jokic 7.6

Rebounds: Nikola Jokic 13.8

Steals: Nikola Jokic 1.4

Blocks: Nikola Jokic 0.8

Detroit

Points: Jerami Grant 20.1

Assists: Cade Cunningham 5.2

Rebounds: Isaiah Stewart 7.9

Steals: Cade Cunningham 1.3

Blocks: Isaiah Stewart 1.2

Denver: Michael Malone

Detroit: Dwayne Casey