What a difference a year makes. Last season, the Detroit Pistons were awful, and had a 28 game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks were great and went all the way to the NBA Finals. Prior to Friday night’s game, you would not believe the line based on last year’s play, as it was the Pistons that were the 10 point favourite.
Why was Detroit expected to win? Well, new Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff of Denver, Colorado has done a remarkable job turning the Pistons around. Last year the Pistons had the worst record in the entire National Basketball Association at 14 wins and 68 losses for a winning percentage of .171. This year they are sixth in the East at 40 wins and 32 losses for a winning percentage of .556. That is an increase by a whopping 385 percentage points!
Meanwhile, the Mavericks were at 50 wins and 32 losses for a winning percentage of .610 in 2023-24. Now, they are at 35 wins and 37 losses for a winning percentage of .486. A major reason why there has been a 20 loss swing for the Mavericks can be related to the Luka Doncic trade and the fact they have had very few minutes from Anthony Davis since the deal.
On Friday, it was the Mavericks without Davis and Kyrie Irving that came through with a 123-117 win. It was guard Spencer Dinwiddie of Los Angeles, California who led the way with 31 points as all starters reached double digits in points. P.J. Washington, the power forward from Louisville, Kentucky had 27 points, small forward Klay Thompson of Los Angeles, California had 20 points, small forward Naji Marshall of Atlantic City, New Jersey had 19 points and center Kai Jones of Nassau, Bahamas had 10 points.
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