Injury Riddled – Los Angeles Clippers vs. Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons are causing havoc in the sportsbook because of injuries. Odds makers are always hesitant to set a line when there are injured players on the report, but in the case of Detroit, the line has been set at Detroit -6 ½ even though Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Allen Iverson are all listed as questionable.

Why? Because Detroit plays the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night. The Clippers as always are a woeful team. They’ve won only 17 games this season and two of those 17 victories occurred in the past three games.

One of the things they did change about their line-up in their last game was taking Chris Kaman off the bench. Kaman responded with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Some players are better off the bench than starting. Maybe, that’s the case with Kaman.

Aaron Aflalo similarly responded for the Detroit in the Pistons’ last game. He put up 24 points and 2 rebounds. Unlike Kaman, Aflalo started for Detroit.

Okay, so both teams have a few positives even though neither team appears ready to win. Detroit is in danger of losing their fourth game in a row because of the injuries they have suffered. The Clippers could win their third game in their last four should they pull off the upset versus Detroit.

Here are the against the spread stats on both teams.

The Los Angeles Clippers are 29 and 38 ATS.

The Los Angeles Clippers are 19 and 14 against the spread on the road.

The Detroit Pistons are 29 and 38 ATS overall.

The Detroit Pistons are 10 and 24 against the spread at home.

Here are a few trends for bettors to pay attention to.

The Los Angeles Clippers are 3 and 13 ATS in their last 16 games on the road.

The Detroit Pistons are 7 and 20 ATS in their last 27 games at home.

The Los Angeles Clippers are 0 and 4 ATS in the last 4 meetings between these two teams.

The Los Angeles Clippers are 1 and 7 ATS in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.

There are two ways to look at this game. The first is to say that bettors have received a gift from the odds makers on the Pistons. The Pistons should easily cover the 6 ½ points because they’re playing the Clippers, right?

The other way to look at this game is to see it as a rare opportunity for the Los Angeles Clippers to break a strong trend. With so many stars for the Pistons on the bench, the Clippers should beat the 6 ½ points with ease, right? Wrong.

I actually like Detroit in this game. I expect Detroit to cover the -6 ½ points against the spread. Why? Because their bench players, filling in for the injured stars, have been very good and the 106 to 101 loss to the Houston Rockets in overtime on March 18th, without any of their stars, is a sign that the Pistons are still a much better team than the Clippers.

I’ll bet the Pistons against the spread in the sportsbook.