BROOKLYN vs DETROIT
When: 2/9/2021 7:00 PM
Where:

TV: 7:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: DETROIT , BROOKLYN

Oddsmakers currently have Brooklyn listed as 7.5 point favorites versus Detroit, while the game’s total is sitting at 232.5.

Brooklyn Nets (14-11, third in the Eastern Conference) vs. Detroit Pistons (5-18, 15th in the Eastern Conference)

Detroit; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Detroit enters the matchup with Brooklyn as losers of four in a row.

The Pistons are 3-10 against Eastern Conference opponents. Detroit gives up 113.7 points to opponents and has been outscored by 5.3 points per game.

The Nets are 9-8 in Eastern Conference play. Brooklyn ranks sixth in the league with 26.8 assists per game led by James Harden averaging 11.8.

The teams face off Tuesday for the first time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jerami Grant ranks second on the Pistons with 2.5 made 3-pointers, and is averaging 24 points while shooting 38.9% from beyond the arc. Josh Jackson is averaging 1.6 made 3-pointers and 12.7 points over the last 10 games for Detroit.

Harden ranks third on the Nets averaging 23.6 points while adding 8.1 rebounds and 11.8 assists per game. Joe Harris is averaging 3.7 made 3-pointers and scoring 15.1 points over the last 10 games for Brooklyn.

LAST 10 GAMES: Pistons: 2-8, averaging 107.7 points, 43 rebounds, 22.8 assists, 7.4 steals and 5.1 blocks per game while shooting 43.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 113.7 points on 47.1% shooting.

Nets: 5-5, averaging 124.8 points, 42.6 rebounds, 28.1 assists, 5.6 steals and 6.2 blocks per game while shooting 50.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 125 points on 48.1% shooting.

INJURIES: Pistons: Killian Hayes: out (hip), Wayne Ellington: day to day (right calf), Jahlil Okafor: day to day (knee).

Nets: Nicolas Claxton: out (right knee), Spencer Dinwiddie: out for season (acl), Kyrie Irving: day to day (finger), Kevin Durant: out (health and safety protocols).

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DETROIT vs LA LAKERS
When: 2/6/2021 10:05 PM
Where:

TV: 10:05 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: LA LAKERS , DETROIT

Oddsmakers currently have the LA LAKERS listed as point favorites versus the DETROIT, while the game’s total is sitting at .

Detroit Pistons (5-17, 15th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (17-6, second in the Western Conference)

Los Angeles; Saturday, 10 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Detroit travels to Los Angeles looking to stop its six-game road slide.

The Lakers are 5-4 on their home court. Los Angeles ranks ninth in the NBA with 35.6 defensive rebounds per game led by LeBron James averaging 7.2.

The Pistons are 1-10 in road games. Detroit is 4-12 against opponents over .500.

The teams meet for the second time this season. The Pistons won 107-92 in the last matchup on Jan. 28. Blake Griffin led Detroit with 23 points, and Kyle Kuzma led Los Angeles with 22 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: James leads the Lakers with 2.7 made 3-pointers, and is averaging 25.1 points while shooting 40.9% from beyond the arc. Dennis Schroder is averaging 13.5 points and 3.4 assists over the last 10 games for Los Angeles.

Jerami Grant leads the Pistons scoring 23.6 points and grabbing 5.6 rebounds. Griffin is averaging 1.3 made 3-pointers and scoring 8.4 points over the last 10 games for Detroit.

LAST 10 GAMES: Lakers: 7-3, averaging 106.9 points, 41.1 rebounds, 23.8 assists, 7.4 steals and 5.3 blocks per game while shooting 47.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 101.5 points on 46.4% shooting.

Pistons: 2-8, averaging 105.5 points, 42.6 rebounds, 22.1 assists, seven steals and five blocks per game while shooting 43.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 111.5 points on 47.2% shooting.

INJURIES: Lakers: Kostas Antetokounmpo: out (knee), Jared Dudley: out (calf).

Pistons: Killian Hayes: out (hip), Wayne Ellington: day to day (right calf), Jahlil Okafor: out (knee).

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DETROIT vs PHOENIX
When: 2/5/2021 9:05 PM
Where:

TV: 9:05 PM
LINE: -8
PREDICTION: PHOENIX , DETROIT

Oddsmakers currently have the PHOENIX listed as -8 point favorites versus the DETROIT, while the game’s total is sitting at 214.

A long homestand could be just what the Phoenix Suns need to move up the Western Conference standings.

The Suns begin a seven-game homestand on Friday night against the Detroit Pistons. They have won three of their last four games but fell at New Orleans, 123-101, on Wednesday.

They won their last home game against Golden State and recorded two victories in Dallas before falling apart in the second half against the Pelicans.

“Good trip,” said Suns guard Devin Booker, who is averaging a team-high 23.1 points per game. “Whenever you can come out with a winning record when you hit the road is good. Obviously, we see there is room for improvement, and I think we’ll make those adjustments.”

Booker scored a team-best 25 points on Wednesday, but the Pelicans were outscored 75-55 after the break.

“We just didn’t have a lot of juice for whatever reason in the third and gave up a 40-point quarter,” coach Monty Williams said. “Can’t have that, especially on the road or at home. It doesn’t matter, 40-point quarters are a disaster.”

Williams’ team will try to avenge that loss during its return trip to New Orleans on Feb. 19. Prior to that, the Suns will host a parade of Eastern Conference teams. Following their matchup with the Pistons, the Pelicans will entertain Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Orlando and Brooklyn.

Their game on Friday will finish off the two-game season series with Detroit. The Pistons defeated New Orleans in Detroit, 110-105, in overtime on Jan. 8.

The Pistons limited Phoenix to 37 second-half points that day before outscoring the visitors 17-12 during the extra session.

Jerami Grant led the way for Detroit, tying his career high with 31 points. The Suns committed 21 turnovers, which the Pistons turned into 23 points.

Detroit is in the midst of a tumultuous road trip. It lost to Golden State 118-91 on Saturday and Utah 117-105 on Tuesday. In between, the Pistons had their game in Denver postponed minutes before tipoff due to an inconclusive coronavirus test.

In Utah, the Pistons trailed by as much as 28 but sliced the deficit to four points in the late going.

“Compete — that’s all we have to hang our hat on. Compete, fight, scratch,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. “Compete together, stay together, don’t give in to adversity. Don’t let go of the rope. I just felt they were, and I let the guys know. I thought they responded. Put ourselves in position (to win).”

With the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers looming on the schedule Saturday, the Pistons could view their game in Phoenix as their chance to salvage the trip.

“I hope we can play like that for a full game, for four quarters,” center Mason Plumlee said. “It’s nothing spectacular. I just think it’s the fundamentals of getting back on defense, competing, playing for the next guy. It’s not super complicated.”

Grant was once again Detroit’s leading scorer against the Jazz, posting 27 points. He’s averaging 23.7 points per game.

Plumlee has notched four double-doubles in the last five games after fouling out four consecutive times. He matched his season high with 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Utah.

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DETROIT vs UTAH
When: 2/2/2021 10:00 PM
Where:

TV: 10:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: UTAH , DETROIT

Oddsmakers currently have the UTAH listed as point favorites versus the DETROIT, while the game’s total is sitting at .

The NBA’s longest winning streak of the season ended Sunday, but the Utah Jazz might have to wait longer than scheduled to get back in the victory column.

The Jazz’s game Tuesday night in Salt Lake City against Detroit might not be played after the Pistons’ scheduled Monday contest at Denver was postponed just before tipoff in accordance to the league’s health and safety protocols.

ESPN reported that a Detroit player tested positive/inconclusive for COVID-19, leaving the team without the required minimum of eight players.

As of late Monday night, the Tuesday game between the Jazz and Pistons was still on the NBA’s slate.

Utah is due to host Atlanta on Thursday while Detroit is scheduled to finish its Western Conference trip in Phoenix on Friday and at the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday. The Pistons’ road swing began Saturday with a 118-91 loss at Golden State, Detroit’s sixth defeat in eight games.

The Jazz lost Sunday for the first time since falling at New York on Jan. 6, a span that included 11 consecutive wins. That streak, which saw the Jazz beat 10 opponents by double digits, led to Jazz coach Quin Snyder being named the NBA’s Western Conference coach of the month for the December/January period. Snyder moved past Frank Layden into second place behind Jerry Sloan for wins in Jazz history.

Utah likely will need a better defensive effort than it gave Sunday in the 128-117 loss at Denver to start a new winning streak. The most glaring stat from the defeat: The Nuggets hit 15 of 17 3-point attempts in the first half while jumping out to a 79-54 halftime lead.

Nikola Jokic led Denver with a whopping 47 points against the porous Utah defense.

“We didn’t play our best, that’s what hurts, especially the way we played the last two games against Dallas,” said Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, who was back in action after missing two games while in concussion protocol. “To have that performance and they come out and they shoot 15 of 17, that’s what hurts the most.”

The Nuggets gave the Jazz some of the medicine they had been doling out for the previous 3 1/2 weeks, going up by as many 28 points before Utah narrowed the gap. Ultimately, the Jazz didn’t have enough to overcome the large deficit, and the team’s longest winning streak since 2009 came to an end.

“We cross matched, we played zone, we doubled, we played man,” Snyder said. “But ultimately I think regardless of what you do, we have to play with more of an edge and more urgency.”

If Tuesday’s game happens as scheduled, the Jazz would increase the number of fans allowed in the arena from 1,500 to 3,902, according to the Deseret News.

The Pistons have now had two games postponed this season, including a Jan. 13 home game against the Washington Wizards, who had a lengthy COVID-related shutdown.

“You have to be nimble, you have to be flexible and you have to expect the unexpected,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said recently. “And that’s how this entire season is going to go, and if you go into it thinking it’s going to be a normal day, that’s when your life will be a little bit disrupted.”

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DETROIT vs DENVER
When: 2/1/2021 9:00 PM
Where:

TV: 9:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: DENVER , DETROIT

Oddsmakers currently have the DENVER listed as 9.5 point favorites versus the DETROIT, while the game’s total is sitting at 220.5.

The Detroit Pistons have just five wins, but two of those have come in the last week against Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Beating good teams is usually a confidence boost, but in the first of a five-game Western Conference road trip, Detroit fell flat at Golden State. It doesn’t get easier when the Pistons face the Nuggets in Denver on Monday night.

It will be the second of back-to-back games for the Nuggets, who beat the Utah Jazz — Detroit’s opponent on Tuesday night — 128-117 and are playing their third game in four days.

Monday’s game will be the first in Denver for Pistons forward Jerami Grant since he spurned the Nuggets’ contract offer and signed with Detroit for the same money. One of the reasons Grant had for accepting the Pistons’ three-year, $60-million offer was to be one of the top offensive options, something that was not probable with Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. on Denver’s roster.

Grant leads Detroit in scoring at (23.5 points) and in shot attempts (17.3) per game.

Grant had 18 points in the 27-point loss to the Warriors, a game in which the Pistons had difficulty finding their rhythm.

“I’m confident we’ll find it,” said Josh Jackson, who scored 17 in the loss. “I’ve been around this group of guys for a while and one thing I’ve learned is they never lay down or never give up. I’m not worried.”

Detroit should be worried about stopping Jokic, who tied a career high with 47 points in Sunday’s win that ended Utah’s 11-game winning streak. Jokic has notched a double-double in all 20 games this season.

Jokic had time to go for 50 points but he went to the bench with the game in hand. His teammates were more interested in him getting there than Jokic.

Jokic’s former backup, Mason Plumlee, can help with the scouting report for the Pistons but it might not matter, according to Denver’s Will Barton.

“He’s just different with his demeanor and approach to the game,” Barton said of Jokic. “A guy that really just wants to make the right play every time. When he turns that aggressive there’s nothing no one can do.

“We definitely wanted the big fella to get 5-0.”

The Nuggets will be playing their seventh game in 11 days and might have to do without their best perimeter defender in Gary Harris. Harris played just nine minutes in the first quarter on Sunday before leaving with a left adductor strain.

Coach Michael Malone did not provide an update on Harris’ condition in Sunday’s postgame availability.

Denver has been banged up lately; it is already without PJ Dozier, and Murray is playing with a sore left shoulder. But Malone was happy with the contributions he from other players, such as Barton, JaMychal Green and Facundo Campazzo, on Sunday.

“You don’t beat the best team in the NBA with just one player,” Malone said. “It takes a team effort and I thought we got a lot of guys stepping up.”

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DETROIT vs GOLDEN STATE
When: 1/30/2021 10:00 PM
Where:

TV: 10:00 PM
LINE: -4.5
PREDICTION: GOLDEN STATE , DETROIT

Oddsmakers currently have the GOLDEN STATE listed as -4.5 point favorites versus the DETROIT, while the game’s total is sitting at 223.5.

The Detroit Pistons will be out to avenge an earlier defeat when they visit the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night in San Francisco.

The clubs met in the second week of the season in Detroit, with the Warriors riding 31 points from Stephen Curry and 27 from Andrew Wiggins to a 116-106 victory.

The Pistons got 27 points that night from Jerami Grant, but just eight from Blake Griffin in 17 minutes before he had to leave the game with a concussion.

Griffin and the Warriors are longtime rivals dating back to his days with the Los Angeles Clippers. He’s faced them 37 times in his career, including seven times in the 2014 playoffs.

With Griffin going for 24 points in Game 7, the Clippers outlasted the Warriors in that series, prompting Golden State to fire coach Mark Jackson and replace him with Steve Kerr.

The Warriors then went on to make the NBA Finals in each of the next five seasons, winning three championships.

Griffin has a career 13-24 record against Golden State, with losses in two of his three meetings since joining the Pistons and each of his last nine head-to-heads with the Clippers.

The 31-year-old turned back the clock against another longtime rival — the Los Angeles Lakers — on Thursday night, going for 23 points in a 107-92 home win.

“That was Blake rested, of two years ago, healthy and with some bounce and pep in his step,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey gushed afterward. “That’s what we needed. We needed a jolt on a back-to-back. I’m really happy with the way that he played.”

Wayne Ellington (6-for-9 on 3-pointers, 20 points) and Mason Plumlee (17 points, 10 rebounds) were surprise contributors to the win over the Lakers, which was just Detroit’s fifth in 19 games this season.

Ellington continued a franchise-record 3-point run, during which he has made at least four in seven straight games. The Warriors’ Curry is one of just seven players in NBA history to have had such a seven-game flurry.

Curry leads the NBA in 3-pointers. He added five to his total in Thursday’s 114-93 loss at Phoenix as the Warriors, like the Pistons, were playing for a second time in two days.

Wiggins complemented Curry’s 27-point night with 16 of his own on 6-for-11 shooting. They combined to go 16-for-31, while the rest of the team struggled to 22-for-68 (32 percent).

The loss came after a two-game home sweep of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Warriors have put together five two-game winning streaks this season, only to lose the next game each time.

“We’re a growing team,” newcomer Kent Bazemore assessed after the Phoenix game. “We put together spurts where we have some good basketball. But obviously, we’re still trying to get better.”

While the Pistons will be opening an eight-day Western swing, the Warriors will be playing the first of two straight at home. They host Boston on Tuesday.

Detroit concludes its trip on Feb. 6 with a rematch against the Lakers in Los Angeles.

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DETROIT vs MIAMI
When: 1/18/2021 3:00 PM
Where:

TV: 3:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: MIAMI , DETROIT

Oddsmakers currently have the MIAMI listed as point favorites versus the DETROIT, while the game’s total is sitting at .

This is the first time in his life as a big-time basketball player that Jerami Grant is the No. 1 option — and he is enjoying the ride.

Grant, averaging 24.8 points in his first season with the Detroit Pistons, kept his momentum going Saturday night with 24 points, nine rebounds, six assists, four blocks, two steals and zero turnovers in a 120-100 win over the host Miami Heat.

The Pistons and Heat meet again Monday night in Miami, and Grant will surely be a big part of the scouting report.

“I’m still learning and growing, seeing what my team needs from me,” said Grant, a potential first-time All-Star this season if he maintains this pace. “We’re still getting to know each other on this team, but we have potential.”

The same can be said for Grant, 26. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 12.5 points as a high school senior on a loaded team at DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) and then averaged 3.9 points and 12.1 points in two years at Syracuse, which won 30 and 28 games, respectively, in those two seasons.

A second-round pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2014, Grant bounced from Philly to Oklahoma City to Denver in his first six seasons, never averaging more than 13.6 points.

He signed a three-year, $60-million deal with the Pistons in November, and the son of Harvey Grant and nephew of Horace Grant — both ex-NBA standouts — has finally started to blossom.

The Pistons, who have yet to win consecutive games this season, are hoping to take advantage of a short-handed Heat team that on Saturday was without Jimmy Butler and Avery Bradley — both due to COVID-19 protocol — as well as Tyler Herro (neck spasms) and Meyers Leonard (shoulder).

Herro and Butler are two of Miami’s top three scorers. In addition, Butler tops the team in steals and is regarded as the team’s emotional leader.

But Heat coach Erik Spoelstra refuses to make excuses.

“These are the circumstances, and it’s not just for us,” he said. “A lot of teams are going through this.”

The Heat did get six players back from the COVID protocol on Saturday, and that includes a pair of recent All-Stars in Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic. Adebayo leads Miami in scoring (18.6), rebounds (8.8) and blocks (1.2) while also dishing 5.1 assists. Dragic leads Miami’s second unit and is averaging 14.4 points with a team-high 5.6 assists.

Still, the Heat’s injury/illness issues have forced some newcomers to fill in, and that includes KZ Okpala, who made his first NBA start on Saturday and produced 16 points while sinking 4 of 5 3-point attempts.

In addition, Gabe Vincent scored a career-high 24 points on Tuesday against the 76ers and then added 21 points in the rematch on Thursday.

Vincent was an undrafted player, and Okpala was a second-round selection by the Phoenix Suns in 2019.

But while the Heat on Monday will look for help from these under-the-radar players, Detroit can turn to Grant as well as established veterans such as Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose. Griffin had 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds on Saturday. Rose, who had missed Detroit’s two previous games due to left-knee soreness, produced 23 points, four assists and four steals in 21 minutes off the bench.

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BOSTON vs DETROIT
When: 1/3/2021 3:05 PM
Where:

TV: 3:05 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: DETROIT , BOSTON

Oddsmakers currently have the DETROIT listed as point favorites versus the BOSTON, while the game’s total is sitting at .

The revisions made to the NBA schedule to decrease travel give the Boston Celtics a swift shot at redemption in Detroit.

The Pistons collected their first victory of the season at the Celtics’ expense, 96-93, on Friday. The two Eastern Conference clubs will match up once again in Detroit on Sunday afternoon.

Boston got off to a very slow start, righted itself and then fell apart offensively in the late going. The Celtics scored just 12 points in the first quarter — their lowest-scoring quarter of the young season — and trailed by double digits most of the first half. They rallied behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to take a 93-88 lead but went scoreless in the last 4:15.

“We had a lot of wide-open shots,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. “I think what we did was we started off so poorly in the first half, we just decreased our margin for error and every one of those shots was way more meaningful than if we played with better substance in the first half. That might have been the basketball gods’ way of saying that we didn’t deserve to win the game.”

The Celtics generally blamed a lack of energy for their sluggish start. They were playing their third game in four nights after recording wins against Indiana on Tuesday and Memphis on Wednesday.

“We’ve got to start the game better and set the tone for the rest of the team,” Tatum said. “The older guys, that’s on us. The second half, we played with a lot more purpose and played a lot tougher and gave ourselves a chance to win. But we missed a lot of good looks towards the end of the game.”

“I just didn’t think we ran hard,” Stevens added. “We did at the end of the game, we did a good job, but these guys are long, athletic, they are well-coached, they are going to be really hard to score on if we start offense (late in the shot clock) and it’s not really crisp.”

Tatum and Brown combined for 53 points and they might be even harder to contain if the Celtics play with more purpose from the start.

Detroit had trouble closing out games prior to the Celtics’ visit. It held fourth-quarter leads in three of its previous four games.

Sixth man Derrick Rose, who scored the go-ahead basket with 1:20 remaining, was pleased the way his team dug in during the closing minutes.

“Your shots are not going to fall every night but something that should be consistent is your defense,” he said. “We harped on that from the beginning of the year. Everybody’s got to have one common goal and that’s to let teams know when they come here it’s going to be that kind of grimy game.”

Rookie Saddiq Bey started for injured forward Blake Griffin and provided a perimeter threat, scoring 15 of his 17 points from long range.

“Right when we picked him, I knew we had an asset,” Rose said. “He’s a shooter. Whenever I’m out there with him, I always keep an eye on him and see where he is on the floor. (Friday), he played great.”

Detroit will likely have to go without Griffin once again. He’s in the league’s concussion protocol.

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BOSTON vs DETROIT
When: 1/1/2021 7:00 PM
Where:

TV: 7:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: DETROIT , BOSTON

Oddsmakers currently have the DETROIT listed as point favorites versus the BOSTON, while the game’s total is sitting at .

The Boston Celtics have found an offensive rhythm during their last two games.

The Celtics will look to keep the flow going this weekend at Detroit against the winless Pistons.

With the NBA restricting travel this season, the Celtics will play in Detroit on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

They recorded back-to-back victories on Tuesday and Wednesday, posting a 116-111 win at Indiana and a 126-107 triumph over Memphis.

Jayson Tatum led the attack against the Pacers with 27 points. Jaylen Brown erupted for a career-high 42 points in just 29 minutes versus the Grizzlies.

Brown drained 15 of 21 field-goal attempts during his career night.

“We made a lot of shots (Wednesday), and that helped us big,” he said. “Obviously it’s great when you make shots, but at times when you don’t make shots, you’ve got to still be locked in.”

Boston is counting on Brown to take a larger offensive role and he’s delivering, averaging 28.0 points and 3.4 assists.

“I have a lot to learn but I think we’re all embracing that challenge,” he said. “Personally for me being able to be in a new and different role with more responsibility, I love and I want to handle that with great responsibility and try to be the best leader I could possibly be.”

With All-Star point guard Kemba Walker sidelined by a knee injury, veteran Jeff Teague has seen his role expand. Teague only scored four points in 21 minutes on Wednesday but he also recorded four assists and four steals.

“I thought Teague’s aggressiveness defensively in the last two games helped really spearhead us,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “I thought (Tuesday) at the end of the third, early fourth, he got his hands on a few balls, got some tips from behind. He anticipates so well.”

The Celtics are shooting 47.7 percent from the field this season and now face a Detroit team that is surrendering an average of 120.8 points per game.

Detroit finished its 116-106 home loss to Golden State on Tuesday without two starters. Blake Griffin entered the league’s concussion protocol, while lottery pick Killian Hayes injured his right ankle. Their status for the weekend series is questionable.

The revamped Pistons have stayed within striking distance in all four of their games but haven’t been able to close them out.

“Everybody in that locker room is all in,” coach Dwane Casey said. “Blake can’t catch a break, but everybody’s all in. We’ve just got to stay together through tough times, continue to build, get a togetherness and chemistry as we go out and compete. One thing is non-negotiable is playing hard — and we are doing that.”

Jerami Grant, acquired in a sign-and-trade with Denver, has been a bright spot. Grant wanted to play for a team that would expand his offensive role and he’s thriving, averaging 22.8 points on 47 percent shooting. He’s scored at least 27 points in the last three games.

“This is new for him to be the go-to guy and he’s taking it on with two hands,” Casey said. “It’s good to see. The other good thing about it, he’s not a finished product, which is great.”

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GOLDEN STATE vs DETROIT
When: 12/29/2020 7:05 PM
Where:

TV: 7:05 PM
LINE: 3.5
PREDICTION: DETROIT , GOLDEN STATE

Oddsmakers currently have the DETROIT listed as 3.5 point favorites versus the GOLDEN STATE, while the game’s total is sitting at 222.5.

Veteran coaches Steve Kerr and Dwane Casey hope to take the next step toward understanding different-looking rosters this season when the Golden State Warriors visit the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night.

The Warriors wrap up a season-opening, four-game trip looking to break even after Damion Lee’s 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining allowed them to overtake the Chicago Bulls for a 129-128 victory on Sunday.

As the Warriors rested in Detroit on Monday, the Pistons found themselves in Atlanta, where Casey elected to rest Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose in what became his team’s third straight defeat to start the campaign, a 128-120 setback against the Hawks.

Griffin and Rose are expected to be back in the lineup Tuesday as Casey attempts to write a script that maximizes their health and performances this season.

“We didn’t want to run them to the ground because of the back-to-back. That’s the reason,” Casey said when asked why arguably his two best players weren’t suiting up for just the third game of the young season. “I don’t want to say this is going to be the plan throughout the year. Their bodies and how they feel will lend a lot to how we want to do it.”

Griffin, 31, made it through just 18 games last season because of a sore left knee that eventually required surgery. The 11-year veteran has missed fewer than 21 games in a season just once since 2014-15.

Meanwhile, Rose, 32, has played no more than 51 games in each of the past three seasons and no more than 66 games in the past nine campaigns. Both he and Griffin missed full seasons early in their career due to knee surgeries.

Griffin averaged 20.5 points and Rose 14 in the Pistons’ season-opening losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers. In their absence at Atlanta, newcomers Jerami Grant and Josh Jackson led the way with 27 points apiece.

The Pistons haven’t been able to overcome a leaky defense that is allowing 122.3 points per game. But in the Warriors, they’ll see an opponent that has been ever weaker defensively, having given up a league-worst 130.3 points per game.

Coming off one-sided losses at Brooklyn and Milwaukee, Golden State was able to get into the win column Sunday thanks to season-best efforts in all three shooting percentages — field goal (40.4 percent), 3-point (38.3 percent) and free throw (90 percent).

Kerr is hoping the improvement is a sign of things to come, admitting he is still getting to know a roster that’s missing most of its key players from the run of five straight trips to the NBA Finals.

“I, frankly, haven’t done a great job of implementing things in an orderly fashion,” he said Monday. “And what I mean by that is I should have been probably simpler with what we were delivering right from Day 1.”

The Warriors scored 30 more points against the Bulls than they managed in either of their first two games. Stephen Curry was one big difference as he exploded for 36 points, making five 3-pointers after he had gone a combined 4-for-20 from beyond the arc earlier.

Draymond Green, who missed most of training camp after a positive coronavirus test before sustaining a foot strain on the eve of the opener, remains out of the Warriors’ lineup.

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