Celtics and Pistons battle at The Palace

Basketball Betting Lines

03/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics hope to put an embarrassing loss behind them when they pay a visit to the Detroit Pistons Tuesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Boston just went 1-2 on a three-game homestand and suffered a 104-96 loss to the lowly New Jersey Nets on Saturday from TD Garden. Kevin Garnett had 26 points and nine rebounds, while Marquis Daniels chipped in 16 points and Rajon Rondo added 13 points and 17 assists in the loss.

"I still believe in this team. I just know for a fact we're not playing well," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said after the Nets recorded just their sixth win of the season. "I don't think you change just to change. I don't think we need it. I think we need to change our approach and the way we play."

The Atlantic Division-leading Celtics played without star forward Paul Pierce, who missed his third straight game due to a sore right thumb. Pierce is averaging 17.9 points per game and says he is ready to return for Boston, which has dropped three of four overall and will try to improve its 20-10 road mark.

The Pistons are also trying to bounce back and lost the last three tests of a four-game road trip, including Saturday's 95-88 defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors.

Tayshaun Prince had 18 points for the Pistons, while Rodney Stuckey scored 17 and Richard Hamilton 16 in a losing cause.

"We missed free throws. I missed a couple of gimmies in the paint," Prince said. "It's one of those games, four in five nights. You have to fight through it, but we ran out of gas."

Detroit is 14-16 as the host this season, and won the first of three meetings with Boston by a 92-86 score back on January 20 at The Palace. Stuckey scored 27 points and had a career-high 11 rebounds in that one.

The Pistons have won 11 of the previous 16 matchups with the Celtics, who have lost 11 of their last 15 visits to Detroit.

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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year

Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.

Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.

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Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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