NBA BASKETBALL BETTING PREVIEW - OKLAHOMA CITY @ DETROIT PISTONS

NBA Basketball

2012-11-12 - Oklahoma City at Detroit Pistons

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Detroit Pistons
United States: NBA Basketball
Monday 12 November 2012 - Tip Off 7:30pm
12:30am (British Time)

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Preview

The Oklahoma City Thunder (5-2) have made a positive start to the new season after coming so close to winning the NBA Championship last year and despite losing James Harden in the off-season, just days before this season started. They have already played a fair few games in the last week, but will look to extend their winning run to five games as they hit the road for one game.

To be honest, the Thunder will feel they have a big opportunity to extend their run as they face the hapless Detroit Pistons (0-7) who have made another bad start to the season, although only 1 of those losses has come at home.

Detroit have bemoaned their lack of energy on the floor and they have failed to score more than 94 points in 4 of their last 6 games, while they opened the season with a comfortable loss here to the Houston Rockets.

Greg Monroe is doing the best he can for the team, but it is the struggles of Rodney Stuckey and Brandon Knight that will really worry Pistons fans as they can't win if their Point Guard and Shooting Guard are not performing Offensively.

It will be even tougher as they come up against one of the more powerful Offensive units in the NBA and a team that hasn't really missed a step without James Harden as Kevin Martin is providing a scoring boost from the bench.

Russell Westbrook was also back on form yesterday in the win over Cleveland with his 27 points and 10 assists effort, improving on his four game average before that game. With Kevin Durant being Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka really giving increased production, the Thunder have scored at least 97 points in 4 straight games while they have also surpassed 100 points in 3 out of 4 games.

The Thunder have won their last 4 games by an average of 13 points per game.

Head to Head

Oklahoma City beat Detroit by 11 points at home earlier this season, although they didn't cover the 11.5 points spread.

That means the Thunder have won 7 in a row in the series, going 5-2 against the spread in that time, although only 2 of those wins have come at the Palace of Auburn Hills (1-1 against the spread).

Prediction

Oklahoma City are just scoring too many points at the moment for the Pistons, although I have to be concerned about the amount of basketball they have played with this being their fourth game in five days.

However, there are too many scoring options here and the Thunder have dominated the recent series and may just record their second double-digit win of the season over the Pistons.

The Pick :