Pistons vs. Hornets Prediction and Odds for November 21: Which Team’s Improvement Will Continue?

The Detroit Pistons (7-9) are set to take on the Charlotte Hornets (5-9) in an NBA Eastern Conference matchup on Thursday night.

While teams around the league are preparing for another round of the NBA Cup 2024 on Friday, the Pistons are looking for their third win in four games. This is their best start to a season in recent history, though they lost to the Hornets by one point when they met on Nov. 6.

The Hornets dropped each of their last two games, but that’s not the big story coming out of the franchise. The headline is that Hornets coach Charles Lee benched LaMelo Ball down the stretch of a close game against the Brooklyn Nets they ended up losing by one game.

As both teams ready themselves for Thursday’s action, we have the best Pistons vs. Hornets betting picks.

Pistons vs. Hornets Betting Odds for Thursday, November 21

The Pistons are 9-6-1 (60 percent) against the spread, 5-2-1 (71.4 percent) ATS on the road, and 7-3-1 (70 percent) ATS as an underdog.

The Hornets are 8-6 (57.1 percent) ATS, 4-3 (57.1 percent) ATS at home, and 0-1 ATS as the favorite.

The following odds for the Pistons vs Hornets game are courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Place your bets at BetMGM and claim up to $1,500 in bonus bets* with our promo code WSNSPORTS.

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Pistons vs. Hornets Prediction

Detroit Pistons Preview

What’s this? The Pistons are currently the sixth seed in the East and would make the playoffs if they started today!

It’s been a long time since Detroit had anything to brag about. Sure, they’re benefitting from most of the conference being below .500, but they have had a nice start to the year with standout wins against the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.

J.B. Bickerstaff walked into a situation worse than the one he left in Cleveland, but he’s demonstrated an ability to develop young players and help teams forge their identity. In that vein, the Pistons are ninth in defensive rating and allowed fewer points per 100 possessions than teams such as the Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Minnesota Timberwolves.

The offense has not been, but also hasn’t been awful. The team ranks 19th in offensive rating, which is ahead of where it was last year. One of the biggest issues is that there still is not a secondary creator to complement Cade Cunningham, who has to generate offense for himself and his teammates without great spacing around him. 

Another of Detroit’s concerns is that their defensive issues largely occur on the perimeter, and they can lose focus quickly. And in an era dominated by three-point sharpshooters, that means the Pistons are just a few bad minutes away from falling behind by a large amount.

Cunningham leads the team with 23.3 points, 8.8 assists, and 7.3 rebounds, while Jaden Ivey is having the best year of his young career and scored 18.5 points per night. Two of the five players that averaged at least 10 points per game, Tim Hrdaway Jr. and Malik Beasley, also shot at least 39 percent from three thus far.

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Charlotte Hornets Preview

Similar to Bickerstaff, coach Lee, a first-timer, was tasked with taking a roster with an All-Star caliber guard, a couple of promising young pieces, and veteran misfits and castaways and creating a calling card out of it.

Whereas the Pistons found noteworthy success on defense, the Hornets are only 20th in defensive and 24th in offensive rating. They’re fifth in rebound rate, but the Pistons are fourth and won’t be at a decided disadvantage as a result.

Charlotte is average shooting the ball from three and creates some solid looks out of the pick-and-roll with LaMelo Ball, though there’s also a heavy dose of individual creation from the young guard.

Lee’s decision to bench Ball down the stretch on Wednesday shows that he wants to establish a culture and a standard for a franchise that has been without both for many years. It’s worth monitoring, though it ultimately hasn’t become anything as of yet.

Ball paces the team at 28.4 points and 6.6 assists per night. Second-year forward Brandon Miller is second at 16.7 points per game, followed by Miles Bridges, Tre Mann, Nick Richards, and Grant Williams, all of whom are in double-digit scoring. 

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Pistons vs. Hornets Betting Pick

• Pistons vs. Hornets pick: Pistons +1.5 (-120) at BetMGM

Both of these teams have their moments but are still several years and players away from becoming the team they want to be. Detroit is much closer, so it isn’t a surprise to see them favored here. 

Benching a star player can go one of two ways. The first is that it has the desired effect and brings the best out of the player, and the other is that it alienates them and causes the locker room to second-guess their coach.

While the latter is unlikely, Ball has the right to feel upset that he was benched after he was asked to carry such a poor offense. Detroit has more cohesion and is just a better team right now, so they have our support in this one.

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How to Watch Pistons vs. Hornets on 11/21/24

• When: Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 7:00 p.m. ET

• Where: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC

• TV: NBA TV

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