NBA Picks & Parlay of the Weekend | March 9

The best one-man show in the NBA is in Detroit tonight as Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks come to Little Caesars Arena to face the Pistons. Doncic is on the verge of NBA history with another 30-point triple double as the Mavs fight for playoff position in the West. The Pistons are coming off one of their best performances of the year in a win over the Nets. Let’s make a winning parlay!

Mavericks Moneyline (-278) at DraftKings

The point spread was seven points as of Saturday morning, but let’s get this parlay going with a simple moneyline bet on the Mavs.

Detroit is 10-52 this season, now percentage points head of the Wizards in the Eastern Conference for 14 th place. Yay! The Pistons aren’t in last place.

Doncic leads the NBA with 34.6 points a night, and is almost averaging a triple double. He’s averaging 9.8 assists and nine rebounds. Don’t forget about Kyrie Irving either, who is quietly having another big year. The Mavs are 16-13 on the road. They’ve beaten the Pistons six of the last seven meetings.

This feels like one of those games where the Pistons hang around for three quarters, but then don’t execute in the fourth and Dallas pulls away.

Start this parlay with the Mavs moneyline.

Under 234.5 (-110) at DraftKings

I thought long and hard about this one, because I do believe the Over is the better play in the NBA, but the total is just too high for my liking.

What you need to know though is in the last eight Dallas games both teams - both - have scored over 110 points. But look at who Dallas has played lately, they gave up 137 to Indiana, 120 to Philly and 138 to Boston. The Mavs defense is 24th in the NBA allowing 118 a night.

The Pistons defense is worse, allowing 120 a game, but Detroit has only averaged 104 points in their last five games. Eight of the last 10 Piston games have gone under.

Detroit can’t match the Mavericks offensive firepower, so I see this as a 120-105 type of game.

Take the under.

Under 22.5 (-115) at DraftKings

After his 32-point outburst in the win over Brooklyn the other night, Cunningham talked about learning to play with his backcourt mate, Jaden Ivey, and how things are still coming together.

That should worry Piston fans. Guys, there’s like 20 games left in the season, and you had all of training camp together and you’re still figuring things out?

Cunningham is still a good player, but hasn’t shown (yet) that’s he’s an elite talent that can just take over games. He’s averaging right at 22.4 this season, and he’s only faced Dallas once in his three-year career. He scored 25 back in April of 2022 in 38 minutes.

The Pistons can exploit some match-ups tonight, but it’s not Cunningham who should do it. I’m taking the under.