Saturday NBA Picks
Our team of writers and handicappers hand out their NBA picks and predictions for Saturday, February 7.
Detroit Pistons at Milwaukee Bucks, 8:30PM ET
Wins have been hard to come by lately for the Detroit Pistons. They hope their latest one is the beginning of the end of that trend.
The Pistons look to build on a hard-fought win and take advantage of an injury-plagued Milwaukee Bucks team as they try to continue their dominance of their Central Division rivals Saturday night at the Bradley Center.
Detroit (26-21) had lost nine of 12 games before pulling out a 93-90 victory over Miami on Wednesday night.
The Pistons blew a 13-point third-quarter lead and missed four of their five free throws in the final 20 seconds before hanging on for their first win over a team with a winning record since defeating Denver on Jan. 9.
NBA Free Pick: OVER – View Game Matchup | Best Line:
Detroit Pistons at Milwaukee Bucks, 8:30PM ET
Scott Skiles’ understudies didn’t get the job done Tuesday night. Richard Jefferson had 27 points in his first game in New Jersey since the Nets traded him to the Bucks in the offseason, but Milwaukee shot 36.5 percent in the 99-85 loss.
"In this situation where we are short-handed, we need three, four, five guys to play well," Skiles said. "We played hard tonight, we just didn’t play that well."
That’s been the case in both of Milwaukee’s previous meetings with Detroit. The Bucks shot 40.5 percent in a 107-97 road loss Nov. 28 before shooting a season-low 30.4 percent in an 87-76 home defeat Dec. 27.
Pistons guard Allen Iverson has averaged 17.5 points, 6.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals in two meetings with the Bucks.
NBA Free Pick: Detroit – View Game Matchup | Best Line:
Minnesota Timberwolves at Houston Rockets, 8:30PM ET
Houston Rockets center Yao Ming was frustrated with his team’s interior defense in a surprising loss its last time out. Delivering a better performance against Al Jefferson and the Minnesota Timberwolves could be a challenge.
The Rockets hope to keep Jefferson under control and bounce back from a loss to a last-place team with their sixth straight win over the Timberwolves when the clubs meet in Houston on Saturday night.
Hampered by injuries all season, Houston (30-20) hasn’t yet put together a stretch of consistently good basketball at both ends of the court.
Though the Rockets know they’re still a work in progress, they had to be surprised with their 104-93 loss to Memphis on Wednesday night.
They allowed the last-place Grizzlies to shoot 53.3 percent from the field while connecting on only 39.8 percent of their own shots. Rockets players were especially frustrated with a 48-32 deficit in points in the paint, calling it the best indicator of their poor defensive showing.
NBA Free Pick: Houston – View Game Matchup | Best Line:
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Posted: 2/7/09 9:42AM ET