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Spurs vs. Pistons

2/19/09

There have been few teams in the NBA as successful over the last decade than the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs. At one point the Pistons made the Eastern Conference Finals an annual event in Detroit and the Spurs did the same with the NBA Finals.

Although both these teams are getting up there in the age category and have been starting to do some retooling, they are still among the NBA’s elite teams. With superstars up and down the rosters of both these teams, they are as fun to watch as any teams in the league today.

Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan may not be in their twenties anymore, but they still can play at an extremely high level. This season has been another transition year for Iverson as he has been traded for the second time in his career after he was moved from the Denver Nuggets to the Detroit Pistons for point guard Chauncey Billups.

Even though the Pistons aren't a bad team by any means, they have struggled to adapt to Iverson’s brand of basketball. With Richard Hamilton playing the shooting guard position in Detroit as well as he has in Detroit throughout all their successful seasons, adding Allen Iverson to the mix has been kind of rough for the former All Star and NBA champion.

As a result of the trade for Iverson the Pistons haven’t really been the dominant force in the Eastern conference that they have in years past. They are still above .500, but teams like the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic have taken over as the top teams in the East.

As for the Spurs, they struggled out of the gate in the beginning season as they had plenty of injury problems to key players, but since the big three in Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan got back healthy the Spurs haven’t looked back as they worked their up the Western conference standings to the number two spot behind the Los Angeles Lakers.

When these two heavyweights in the East and West go head to head the Spurs will be coming into it after losing two straight and the Pistons even worse with four straight losses.

The big question in this match up will be whether or not Manu Ginobili will suit up for the Spurs. Manu did miss the San Antonio’s last game against the New York Knicks with an ankle injury so chances of him not playing in this game are looking pretty good.

Although the Pistons have lost four straight against less than worthy opponents (Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks) I think they will come out on top against the Spurs as San Antonio has really struggled to get things going this season with Ginobili in the lineup.

Another thing the Pistons have going for them is that they will be playing in Detroit where they have only lost seven games so far this season. It could be a close game, but the Pistons should come away with the win. As of this writing there is no line on this one. We'll lay up to -4 with the Pistons here.