Pistons vs Celtics Odds, Picks, and Predictions Tonight: Pistons Catch Celtics Sleeping

The Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics will face off at TD Garden on Monday night in what will be the second game in as many nights for both teams.

The Pistons are coming off a hard-fought loss to the Miami Heat last night and that has been a common theme for them lately. Despite the NBA odds almost never being in Detroit’s favor, the effort from this group has not waned, covering the spread in five of their last seven games.

Meanwhile, the Celtics are on another winning streak. This one stands at five games following a blowout win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday. With this being the second half of a back-to-back and Boston having the Eastern Conference all but wrapped up, the status of several key players is up in the air.

I break it all down and bring you the best bet in my NBA picks and predictions for Pistons vs. Celtics.

Pistons vs Celtics odds

Pistons vs Celtics predictions

Despite the 12-55 record, you can make the case the Detroit Pistons haven’t been playing too badly of late. 

Even though the Pistons come into this game, dropping two straight games to the Miami Heat at home, they are still an impressive 4-6 straight up in their last 10 games overall. Now, 4-6 might not sound impressive but when you only had eight wins total before this 10-game stretch, yes, that’s impressive.

Detroit is still led by Cade Cunningham (duh), but it appears the team has a few other pieces to build around as well. Most notably, Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey. This group has done its best work at the defensive end of the floor.

In fact, the Pistons rank eighth in the NBA in defensive rating, and 13th in opponent field goal percentage over the last 10 games. That effort has kept Detroit in games, despite being hefty underdogs in most matchups.

That’s what they are once again tonight, as NBA oddsmakers have the Pistons listed as 15-point road pups in the second half of a back-to-back going against the best team in basketball.

So, run out and fade the Pistons right? Well, not so fast. This is also the second half of a back-to-back for the Boston Celtics, although they didn’t need to put in a ton of effort last night. Boston is coming off a 130-104 beatdown of the lowly Washington Wizards on Sunday.

They did that without three-fifths of their excellent starting lineup, as Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, and Derrick White all sat that game out.

It sounds like the Celtics should get Porzingis and White back tonight, their injury report is still a long one. Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Sam Hauser have already been ruled out. While Brown and Jayson Tatum are both listed as questionable.

If Tatum or Brown are still nursing even minor injuries, I don’t know why the Celtics would push them at this point, with a ridiculous 9.5 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks for the top spot in the Eastern Conference and just 15 games to go in the regular season.

While the Pistons and Wizards may have similar records, there is nothing similar to the way they are playing basketball at the moment. So, this spread shouldn’t be similar to the Celtics game vs. the Wiz. 

I’ll take a shot on the Pistons as big dogs in this spot, particularly against a shorthanded Celtics team.

My best bet: Pistons +15.5 (-110 at FanDuel)

Pistons vs Celtics same-game parlay

Pistons +15.5

Cade Cunningham Over 3.5 rebounds

Jalen Duren Over 12.5 points

+406 at DraftKings

Al Horford is already unavailable while Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are questionable. That means the Celtics could have some issues on the interior. So, for this same-game parlay let’s go with that line of thinking.
 
For starters, that means rebounds. Jalen Duren rebounds might be your first thought, but he’s got a high total sitting at 11.5. So instead, let’s look at Cade Cunningham. The former No. 1 overall pick is averaging 4.3 rebounds per game this season but is getting a total of 3.5 and would have gone Over this number in six of his last seven games.
 
What we can look at Duren for is his points total. That is sitting on the board at 12.5. Duren has gone Over that number in six of his last 10 games and the Celtics are coming off a game in which they allowed 54 points in the paint to the Wizards.

Learn how to bet a same-game parlay with these helpful tips and strategies.

Pistons vs Celtics spread and Over/Under analysis

The Celtics opened this Eastern Conference matchup as massive 16.5-point home favorites, and why wouldn’t they? The Celtics and Pistons have opposite record, which is crazy considering the Celtics enter this matchup with 53 wins with 15 games left in the regular season.

Boston also leads the NBA in net rating, by a fairly wide margin, and ranks in the Top 2 in both offensive and defensive rating. So, the reasoning for being big favorites here makes sense. Particularly when you consider they closed as 15-point favorites last night against the Washington Wizards, without three-fifths of their starting lineup, and still won by 22. 

That said, it sounds like the Celtics will be shorthanded once again, and unlike the Wiz who have given up on the season, the Pistons are still playing competitive basketball. Detroit is also 14-6 ATS in its last 20 games when getting double-digit points. And since this is the Pistons that just dates back to the middle of December. Like I said, I like taking the points with the Pistons here.

When it comes to the total, that hit the board at 226, and since the injury report for this game came out it has dropped to 223. And even at the new number I still think I’d lean Under.

As noted, both teams are in the Top 10 of defensive rating over the last 10 games and both are playing the second half of a back-to-back tonight — meaning the shooting legs could be a little heavy in this one. 

Pistons vs Celtics betting trend to know

The Pistons are 14-6 ATS in their last 20 games when listed as double-digit underdogs. Find more NBA betting trends for Pistons vs. Celtics.

Pistons vs Celtics game info

Pistons vs Celtics latest injuries

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