NBA basketball picks and previews 3/24/09
Only 4 games on tonight and only 2 have any real importance, Detroit - Chicago and Houston - Utah. We’ll focus on the former.
Chicago have the majority of their remaining fixtures at home and this will please them, they’re currently 21-12 at the United Center. After winning a close one in Washington 101-99 they come back home to face the stuttering Detroit Pistons, who are clinging onto 7th place in the East one place in front of Chicago.
The Pistons’ last game was a 5 point loss at home to the Miami Heat, 101-96 on Sunday night. Much of the Pistons recent bad form can be put down to injuries, Allen Iverson has missed the last 13 games with a back problem and won’t play tonight while Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince are all questionable. One player that they were pleased to see back was Rodney Stuckey, who scored 24 points in Sunday’s defeat. Detroit haven’t been getting the rub of the green recently, 4 of their last 5 games have been lost by 5 points or fewer. This is a game that they don’t want to lose, you feel once they lose the 7th spot they’ll have a hard time getting it back.
Chicago, meanwhile, have won 6 of their last 10 and combined with the Pistons’ poor form means that they have a chance at getting a better match-up in the first round of the play-offs. This all without Luol Deng, who’s missed 11 straight games due to a stress fracture in his right shin. Luckily the Bulls aren’t a one man team and has Ben Gordon, who’s averaging 20 points a game, John Salmons, averaging 22 points a game since he was inserted into the starting line up 11 games ago and Derrick Rose, who’s averaging 16 points a game. Chicago are seen as heavy favourites but with Detroit’s inconsistency it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen.
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