NBA 2021/22 on Wednesday, 03/30/2022
The Brooklyn Nets vs Detroit Pistons match-up should turn out to be an interesting one, as it will be only the second time that Kyrie Irving gets to suit up at the Barclays Center this season. For the fans, this will be a dream come true.
The home side are definitely on the right track. And even though I don’t expect them to pull off any big surprises with regard to the playoffs, not too much should go wrong tonight – according to my Nets Pistons prediction…
With Kevin Durant back, the Nets are slowly gaining “altitude” again, but it’s losses like yesterday’s against the Hornets that are hurting the black and whites in the race for the playoffs.
It is now hard to imagine that Brooklyn was the top favourite to win it all at the start of the season. But that was at a time when all was still right with the world in New York and luck was smiling on them.
Since then, the strokes of fate and unfavourable turns of events have piled up, which could now put the home side in the worst possible position with a view to the postseason. For in the worst case scenario, the New Yorkers could actually still slip down to 10th place …
If Brooklyn were to be overtaken by the Hawks in the final straight, the situation in the subsequent Play-In-Tournament, which is a kind of preliminary round for the actual playoffs, would be quite tricky.
To avert this scenario, a victory over the Pistons is urgently needed – and such a victory would not be too much to ask from the point of view of New York fans, because no NBA team has won fewer games this season than the Bad Boys (20).
Moreover, the Nets have a record of 7:3 wins from their last ten games. Detroit’s trend barometer, on the other hand, is clearly in the opposite direction at 2-8.
The decisive point why I side with the Nets in the upcoming duel has primarily to do with the fact that the visitors seem to have already checked off what they also see as a completely screwed-up season.
Jeremy Grant’s permanent injury broke the Bad Boys’ neck early on – and at the moment, more and more young players are being thrown into the fray to give them some NBA playing practice with a view to the coming season.
The Pistons are not making their mark as a collective, but at best on an individual level. For example, 22-year-old rookie Saddiq Bey recently scored 50 points against the Magic.
Kyrie Irving, by the way, was on the floor in yesterday’s loss to the Hornets. The fact that it was a home game will make many an NBA fan sit up and take notice, as the point guard was long considered undesirable at the Barclays Center due to his vaccination status.
Although Irving’s season premiere in front of a home crowd went down the drain, his comeback has clearly improved the mood within the team, even if it has not yet paid off against the Hornets.
But the fact is that when Irving feels like playing, he can win a match single-handedly if need be – as he has proven several times in recent weeks in away games.
With an ever-focused Kevin Durant driving the Nets, I think they’re already more than halfway to being able to easily handle the Pistons.
My optimism for a win is also based on the fact that the Pistons are one of the most reliable point suppliers of the black and whites in the league.
Each of the last five direct duels went to the Nets, three of them in the current season alone. No wonder, then, that even top bookmakers are calling a Nets win at odds as low as 1.09.
Conclusion: The New Yorkers have come back with the right mentality since the return of Kevin Durant. After all, the home side have won significantly more games than they have lost since then.
The fact that Kyrie Irving, despite his vaccination status, is allowed into the Barclays Center tonight for only the second time this season can also be seen as extremely positive from New York’s point of view. The attitude should therefore be the right one.
The Pistons, meanwhile, are the perfect opponent to let off some steam. The Bad Boys never had serious playoff ambitions and just want to get this basketball year over with as quickly as possible.
My Nets Pistons tip: Brooklyn wins by at least ten points.
