Pistons at Bucks preview: Looking for back-to-back wins to start NBA Cup group play

After last night’s bizarre basketball game in which the Detroit Pistons beat the Miami Heat in overtime after the NBA’s best coach Erik Spoelstra did his best Chris Webber impression, the Pistons have no time to waste in getting prepared for their first match-up this season with the Milwaukee Bucks tonight.

The Bucks are not having a good start to their season. They currently sit near the bottom of the Eastern Conference as the 12th seed thanks to their 3-8 record. They also played in their first NBA Cup game last night where they beat the 2-10 Toronto Raptors 99-85 without Damian Lillard.

The Pistons are having a much better start than the Bucks – they currently sit as the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference at 5-7. It took last year’s team 44 games to match this year’s number of wins. Despite having some tough losses, there’s a lot to be excited about this team.

Game Vitals

When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Watch: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Odds: Pistons +6.5

Analysis

It’s quite ironic that the Milwaukee Bucks fired their head coach Adrian Griffin last year with a 30-13 record to replace him with Doc Rivers the very next day. The Bucks went 17-19 in the final 36 games with Doc and are even worse to start this season. Their 27.3% winning percentage is the second lowest EVER in Doc’s coaching career. All this to say, things are not going well in Milwaukee, and I am here for it!

Khris Middleton has not played yet this season as he looks to return from an ankle injury at some point. Damian Lillard missed last night’s game against the Raptors after entering concussion protocol from Sunday’s game against the Celtics – while he has a chance to be cleared before tonight’s game, this Bucks team would miss his impact on their offense. The Bucks are ranked 20th in ORTG and only scored 99 points yesterday playing without Dame for the first time.

As odd as it may seem, this game could play well towards the Pistons strengths. They also struggle offensively (24th in ORTG), but they’re almost a top 10 defensive team as they rank 12th in DRTG. If the Bucks struggled to score 100+ points against a Raptors team that ranks 29th in DRTG, I think the Pistons have a real shot at upsetting Milwaukee tonight.

THJ’s scary injury last night is less scary knowing that his CAT scan results were negative, but he did have to be stitched up so I assume we don’t see him tonight. Malik Beasley most likely takes his place in the starting lineup, but the hole in the wing room is now even bigger as we await Ausar Thompson’s return.

The Pistons currently have five players averaging double digits and Cade leads the way with 23. The Bucks only have three players with double digit points – Dame averages 26, Giannis averages 31, and Bobby Portis averages 13. If Lillard doesn’t play tonight, all eyes are on Giannis as the sole producer on offense and I expect JB Bickerstaff to have a strong defensive gameplan to counter him. While Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis are both shooting an unusual 25% from three, I’ll be keeping an eye on how the Pistons do against defending their two stretch bigs as well.