Detroit Pistons vs. Cleveland Cavaliers February 8 Betting Preview

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the more pleasant surprises of the NBA season. After the acquisition of Donovan Mitchell in the offseason, the Cavs have built themselves into one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. 

With a 34-22 record, Cleveland is currently sitting in fourth place in the East, just five games behind the conference-leading Boston Celtics.

The Detroit Pistons have been assembling some good, young talent over the past couple of seasons. 

Unfortunately, the building block of their rebuild, Cade Cunningham, was injured early this season, and will not play the rest of the way. Combine that with another piece to the puzzle, Marvin Bagley, being out for an extended period, and the Pistons have been a dismal team throughout the season. 

Sitting at 14-41, the Pistons have one of the worst records in the league, and are in last place in the Eastern Conference. They have lost eight of their last 10, and are just 7-21 on the road.

The Pistons' road record won’t help them when they travel to Cleveland on Tuesday night to take on the Cavaliers. 

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Detroit’s Struggles

The Pistons are struggling on both ends of the floor. They are 24th in the league in scoring. Other than their leading scorer, Bojan Bogdanovic, they struggle shooting from beyond the arc. 

They are even worse on the defensive end of the floor. The Pistons are giving up nearly 120 points per game, good for 29th in the league. Detroit is just a mess on the defensive end, as they sit near the bottom of all defensive ratings. This doesn’t bode well for them, as Cleveland will be a tough matchup for them.

Cleveland is Flying High

The Cavaliers have a team that they think can make a run at an NBA title. With a backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, along with Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen, this team is built for a postseason run. Believe it or not, this team is one of the top defensive teams in the league. 

They’re allowing just over 106 points per game. They do a great job inside, as the length of Mobley and Allen make things difficult. Their perimeter defense has struggled, but all in all, this is a very good defensive team.

The Cavs have put together a very good offensive roster, led by Mitchell. Mitchell and Garland may be the best backcourt in the league. As Mobley gains more experience, he’ll be even better than he already is. 

Prediction

While looking at the spread for this one, Cleveland is a 10.5-point favorite. Cleveland is 22-6 at home this season, and have won three-straight games. 10.5 is a lot of points for an NBA spread. We know that the Pistons are struggling, but we’re not sold that Cleveland wins by that margin. We are going to go with the Pistons and take the points in this one.