The Pistons couldn't survive a long-term injury to Reggie Jackson. The trade for Blake Griffin hasn't turned them around. Detroit is 2-9 in its last 11 games and out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference by five games.

Morale is shot for the Pistons as they head home having gone 0-3 on their road trip that ended with a 22-point loss to the underachieving Cavaliers. That was the 20th time in their last 26 games the Pistons have failed to cover the spread.

So we'll say goodbye to Stan Van Gundy.

I don't see the Pistons able to regroup against Toronto, one of the hottest and best teams in the NBA right now.

The Raptors are 12-1 in their last 13 games, including winning five in a row. They have the second-best point spread mark in the NBA and have dominated inferior competition going 20-8 ATS versus sub .500 teams. They also have covered eight of the last 10 against the Pistons in Detroit.

The line is shorter than I thought possibly because the Pistons played last night. But no one played more than 30 minutes for the Raptors in their 106-90 home win against Atlanta last night.

Detroit's lone strength is a frontcourt of Andre Drummond and Griffin. The Raptors, though, hold a monster backcourt edge with Kyle Lowery and DeMar DeRozan and have one of the deepest frontcourt rotations led by Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas to counter Drummond and Griffin.

(Editor's note: Stephen Nover is one of the top NBA 'cappers in the country and is having another strong season this year going 43-30 on his last 73 premium/free plays.)