NBA Regular Season 2023/24, Thursday, 04.04.2024
“Experience” plays just as much a role in my Hawks Pistons betting tip as it does in selecting the best available sports betting bonuses. This is where the expertise of my betting friends really pays off.
In the context of the upcoming regular-season game, I think that the home side’s cool-headedness will lead to them celebrating a “made-to-measure victory” at best.
The humiliation of the bottom team in the Western Conference that the sports betting providers have been predicting should therefore not materialize.
The Pistons are once again at the bottom of the Western Conference this season – nothing new so far! For years now, they have finished their division with the fewest regular-season wins.
The “bad boys” from Michigan are therefore as far away from the play-offs as you can get. And the severe wave of injuries that has recently hit the franchise is not making things any easier at the start of April.
In fact, my Hawks Pistons tip for tonight was written based on the generally accepted notion that the visitors to State Farm Arena will be without Fonteccio, Grimes, Stewart, Thompson, Umude and possibly Gibson as well as Sasser.
The devastating effect of all these absences on the Pistons’ performance can be gauged from the fact that they have already lost nine of their last ten regular-season games.
And even though the Bad Boys only narrowly lost 108-110 to the Grizzlies last night, this game showed what they lack most due to the long list of injuries: experience.
No player in the starting five against Memphis was older than 24 (!). Center Jalen Duren is even just 20 years old, Tosan Evbuomwan 23 …
It was therefore almost a logical consequence that Detroit went into the break with a 13-point lead, but fell victim to a strong comeback at the end and made many avoidable mistakes in crunch time
Meanwhile, there’s no denying that the Hawks are also missing a whole host of players. First and foremost, crowd favorite Trae Young, for whom it is still not clear when he will even return to the floor.
These and other injuries have meant that the Red & Whites have now slipped to tenth and therefore last place, which would still guarantee them a place in the play-in tournament …
The fact that the two rivals are only five places apart should not blind you to the fact that, despite the shortage of personnel, Atlanta has managed to collect almost three times as many “W’s” as the relegated Pistons with 35 wins.
Detroit has a success rate of just 17%, ouch!
Meanwhile, there is a simple reason why the Hawks’ second suit currently fits better than that of their upcoming opponent.
Because, as already mentioned, Detroit has a very young starting five that, although it has a lot of talent, will have to mature for another two to four seasons before it can even begin to reach its maximum potential.
But it is precisely in this respect that Atlanta can bring much more to the table. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Dejounte Murray alone, for example, who scored 20 and 17 points respectively in yesterday’s 113-101 win over the Bulls, represent plenty of “experience.”
However, just because the Pistons are outplayed in the decisive moments of the game doesn’t mean they can’t keep up with the Hawks, at least for stretches.
The Hawks Pistons odds from the betting providers almost invite you to sympathize with the underdog here.
Because calling odds of just 1.08 for a Hawks win is pretty daring given the absence of Trae Young and several other key players – even against the bottom of the table!
In any case, I expect Atlanta to win by a margin of somewhere between one point and a maximum of 10.
Thus, the odds of about 1.87, which are traded on the other side for a Pistons win at HC +12.5, may be the more sensible decision.
After all, the Hawks only just managed to win the last duel against the Bad Boys in December 2023 by 124:130 – even though almost all the stars were involved back then!
The currently injured Trae Young alone nailed 31 points in the basket and also provided his teammates with 15 valuable assists – and yet they were not able to clearly outpace the underdogs on the scoreboard back then …
Conclusion: I’ll tell you how the game will go! Detroit will start out boldly and, like against the Grizzlies, take a narrow halftime lead into the 3rd quarter.
The Hawks’ experience should then kick in, allowing the Red & Whites to score a few more baskets than the underdogs in the hot phase of the game.
Nevertheless, the difference on the scoreboard is unlikely to be as great as the sports betting providers assume. In my opinion, the bookies have simply underestimated the visitors far too much in their odds!
My Hawks Pistons prediction is therefore: Tip 2 with HC +12.5.
