Detroit — The sea of blue shirts stretched across Little Caesars Arena and the for fans who arrived early, the anticipation of the Pistons’ first home playoff game in three years started to swell on Saturday night. It picked up a little more when Blake Griffin took the court for pregame warmups and went through his normal routine about 90 minutes before the start of Game 3 in the first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks. The anticipation reached a crescendo when the video board showed the Pistons preparing to run out on the court and Griffin was among them. He was listed as a starter, along with Reggie Jackson, Wayne Ellington, Luke Kennard and Thon Maker. Griffin, who hasn’t played since the first half of the penultimate regular-season game against the Memphis Grizzlies, has had 11 days to rest and could send a jolt through the home crowd if he is able to rejoin the starting lineup. The Pistons are in a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series and would be in a tough spot if they fall again. The Bucks dominated the first two games, by 35 and 21 points, respectively, but the Pistons showed a spark in the second quarter of Game 2 and had a lead at halftime. “We’ll find out. He’s going to go through warmups and find out what he’s going to do right before the game,” coach Dwane Casey said. “It’s tenuous as far as his knee is concerned. He’s feeling much, much better and we’ll go from there. “He’s been doing a heck of a lot of rehab and work with his knee, as have other players.” Rod.Beard@detroitnews.com Twitter: @detnewsRodBeard<doc-sep>Game 3 Betting Odds: Milwaukee Bucks at Detroit Pistons Spread: Bucks -9 Over/Under: 216 Time: 8 p.m. ET TV Channel: ESPN Series Score: Bucks Lead 2-0 >> All odds as of 9 a.m. ET. Download The Action Network App to get real-time odds and live win probabilities on your bets. The Pistons have been overmatched in this series, getting blown off the floor by 20-plus points in the first two games by the Bucks. Can Detroit make Game 3 competitive? Our analysts discuss. Betting Trends to Know How important is Blake Griffin, not only to the Pistons generally but specifically against the Bucks? Massive. Pistons with Blake Griffin Off Court vs. Bucks This Season Regular Season: 85.9 Offensive Rating | -18.2 Net Rating | 42.3% eFG Playoffs: 88.9 Offensive Rating | -27.2 Net Rating | 42.9% eFG — Evan Abrams In the first two games of the series, the Bucks have dominated the Pistons in almost every facet of the game. One of the more impressive ways is with their passing, specifically their assists. The Bucks have 63 assists through two games, eclipsing the 30-assist mark in both Game 1 and Game 2. Since 2005, the Bucks are just the seventh team to record 30 assists or more in Games 1 and 2 of a playoff series; the previous six teams went 5-1 straight-up and against-the-spread (ATS) in Game 3. Here are those six teams… 2018-19 Warriors (Game 3 vs. Clippers) 2017-18 Warriors (Game 3 vs. Spurs and Pelicans) 2016-17 Warriors (Game 3 vs. Jazz and Cavaliers) 2007-08 Lakers (Game 3 vs. Nuggets) — Abrams Locky: My Thoughts on Saturday’s Game Frankly, this is a series we’re all just waiting to end, but the betting markets for it are the same as every other series, so we don’t want to miss any value. The unfortunate thing is this number is pretty dead-on for me. The Bucks have dominated almost every minute of this series so far, and when they didn’t dominate it was because Giannis Antetokounmpo was in foul trouble. I see no reason to adjust from the Bucks being a low double-digit favorite on a neutral court, and I’m a little hesitant to give the Pistons a big bump in home-court advantage when recently they haven’t performed that well at home. Sure, their Net Rating improves marginally (about a -3 to a +3, per Cleaning the Glass), but it’s not enough to really sway me that a Griffin-less group can mount much of a challenge here. For the Bucks, this is unfamiliar territory. This group of players hasn’t been a sizeable playoff favorite in previous seasons, and I do think part of learning to be a contender is learning how to manage these series in which the outcome is assured but you have to go on the road. They may get caught flat a little bit because of their inexperience, but that’s about the only chance Detroit has for this game to be competitive. Pass, and let’s hope this thing can wrap up before next week. — Ken Barkley Mears: Wait on Griffin News Before You Bet I’m going to wait until we get definitive news on Blake Griffin to bet this line. As mentioned above, he’s missed the first two games of the series, and the Pistons have gotten predictably blown out as a result. Griffin is obviously incredibly important to this team: They’ve been 4.2 points per 100 possessions worse offensively without him this year, per Cleaning the Glass. That said, even if he plays — and I think there’s a good chance he will in this one — I’m skeptical it will help that much given his injury. He’s been dealing with a knee issue for several weeks now, and he looked hampered at the end of the year. In his last six games, he had one good game (against OKC) and terrible efficiency outings in the rest — even against poor competition. And being hobbled against the Bucks just isn’t going to cut it. The Bucks dominated the Pistons during the regular season even when Blake was playing, winning all four matchups and posting a ridiculous +17.9 Net Rating. They held the Pistons to a lowly 100.3 Offensive Rating. Further, the Bucks are playing an extreme defensive scheme that really drops their big in the pick-and-roll and relies on long athletes like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton to deal with help defense. They’ve let opposing bigs shoot away: They’re easily first in the league in 3-point attempts allowed to big men while bottom 10 in attempts to guards. Their strategy has been clear all year: Let the poor shooters — usually big men — shoot, and protect the rim at all costs. That resulted in a huge role for Griffin in the season series, and he struggled — even when healthy! I’m not expecting some rebound here for the Pistons. But I think the public might, which is why I’ll wait for the Blake news, hopefully watch the line move toward Detroit and then bet the Bucks. — Bryan Mears Editor’s note: The opinions on this game are from the individual writers and are based on their research, analysis and perspective. They are independent of, and may not always match with, the algorithm-driven Best Bets from Sports Insights.<doc-sep>
Dwane Casey is finally weary of Blake Griffin questions. The Detroit Pistons coach has dutifully given medical updates for a week on Griffin, who remains questionable to return to the lineup for Game 3 Saturday night for the first professional playoff game at Little Caesar Arena. After Friday’s practice at LCA – also a first – Casey repeated his same answer when asked about Griffin’s sore left knee. “Day-to-day, day-to-day, I’m not talking about Blake,” Casey said. The Pistons trail the Milwaukee Bucks, 2-0, in the best-of-seven first-round series with Game 4 coming Monday night at LCA. Griffin missed the first two games of the series. The Bucks have dominated the first two games and if the Pistons lose another game, it would be fair to question the wisdom of playing Griffin facing such an insurmountable deficit. Griffin hurt his knee toward the end of the season and took himself out of the lineup after warmups before the Pistons’ 99-90 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on March 30. The power forward missed the next two games before returning to score 45 points at Oklahoma City in a road loss on April 5. He struggled the next two games, scoring five points in 18 minutes in a win over Memphis. He didn't play against the New York Knicks in the regular-season finale. Griffin told reporters after the Pistons' Game 1 loss in Milwaukee he wanted to play but it wasn't his decision. “If it was pain, I would easily play with pain,” Griffin said following the Pistons’ 121-86 loss at Fiserv Forum. “If it was just my decision, I would have played.” Griffin averages 24.5 points per game and is the No. 1 option on offense for the Pistons. The Pistons are 2-7 without Griffin this season. Follow Vince Ellis on Twitter @vincent_ellis56. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.