Pistons vs Lakers Odds, Picks, and Predictions Tonight: Pistons Catch Lakers Looking Ahead

The Detroit Pistons have won just eight games all season, but two of them have come in their last three contests. With some positivity building around a team which expected to fight for a playoff spot this season, might a meeting with the flawed Los Angeles Lakers offer them some hope of keeping the good play going?

Let's get right into the NBA odds with our in-depth preview and NBA picks for Pistons vs. Lakers on Tuesday, February 13.

Pistons vs Lakers odds

Pistons vs Lakers predictions

There’s been some turnover on their roster, but this has truly felt like a new Detroit Pistons team since the middle of January.

Sure, things are still incredibly treacherous on the defensive end, but over the last month this team ranks 13th in offensive efficiency. For lack of a better term, they’ve spammed the mid-range over the course of the season. They’ve grown by a full percentage point in that area in the last month, which has made a big difference.

While Detroit hasn’t shot an inordinate number of 3s, it has ranked second in the league over the last month with a blistering 42.5% shooting percentage from outside. That’s a figure I’m looking at very closely here, given the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the friendliest teams in the league to opponents who want to score from beyond the arc.

L.A. has given up the fourth-most 3s per attempt in the NBA this season, and ranks 21st in total 3-point defense at 38.2% according to Cleaning the Glass. That number has only gotten worse as the season has gone on.

Detroit’s defensive performance on the whole doesn’t look overly exciting, but it’s at least maintained average marks at the rim and in the mid-range over the last month of play with some poor results at the arc. Against a Lakers team which likes to do its scoring inside, this should be of great use.

If the hot shooting for the Pistons keeps up, I think this one should be a rather close affair on the road. The Lakers are still missing a number of key players, and may choose to give LeBron James or Anthony Davis a rest with a surging Utah Jazz team waiting on Wednesday night. The circumstances here are setting up brilliantly for the Pistons.

My best bet: Pistons +11 (-110 at Caesars)

Pistons vs Lakers same-game parlay

Pistons +10.5

Cade Cunningham Over 6.5 assists

Cade Cunningham 20+ points

+247 at FanDuel

I think this is a Cade Cunningham game if we’ve ever seen one. The former No. 1 overall pick isn’t much of an outside shooter, choosing to pass the ball to open teammates on the perimeter and do his scoring from inside the arc. The Lakers have struggled to defend at the rim and in the mid-range over the last month of play, ranking in the bottom third of the NBA, and while their 3-point defense has improved marginally, I still see them as an incredibly vulnerable team given the large sample size of the season as well as the Pistons’ other-worldly shooting numbers since the middle of January.

With that, we’re going to go ahead and bet on a couple of alt numbers with Detroit’s lead man. I like him to rack up seven or more assists — which he’s done in five of his last six games — for an improved offense going against a potentially vulnerable and shorthanded Lakers defense.

Then, I’ll be betting on Cunningham to record a third straight 20-point outing. He’s reached 20 points 29 times in 42 starts this season. The Lakers are just 20th in defensive efficiency over the last month and, as discussed, will not only be down some perimeter defenders but perhaps James or Davis as well, which should open things up for him.

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

Pistons vs Lakers spread and Over/Under analysis

The smart money here looks like it’s on the Pistons. While just 45% of the bets have come in on the underdogs to cover the spread over at DraftKings, Detroit has commanded 65% of the money. Similarly, there’s a gap of 29 percentage points between the bets and the money coming in on the Over, so it appears the sharps are aligned that the Pistons and the Over are the ways to play this one.

The Pistons opened as 12.5-point underdogs, and over the last 24 hours we’ve seen the line steadily move to 10.5. There are still some 11’s available on the board, which is obviously the ideal way to play this one. The total has also climbed from 237 points all the way to 241.5 in the last 24 hours, but has been at a standstill since the early afternoon.

I’d certainly lean towards the Over here, believing in the Pistons’ improved offense, and I also don’t hate taking a swing on the Pistons to win this game before the final injury report comes out. I do think it’s worth betting on either James or Davis to miss this one on the front-end of a back-to-back, especially since they’re already listed as questionable here.

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Pistons vs Lakers betting trend to know

The Detroit Pistons have hit the 3Q Game Total Over in 33 of their last 50 games (+14.35 Units / 26% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Pistons vs. Lakers.

Pistons vs Lakers game info

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