Buck off Bogut blues
Betting tips 
/ Matthew Reid / 30 January 2012 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market
Bogut's absence forces the Bucks into a much more up tempo game reliant on outside shooting.
While Matt Reid admits that both Milwaukee and Detroit are down on fire-power, it's still easy to see their match-up being a lot higher scoring than many will expect.
The Bucks lost arguably their best player, Australian Andrew Bogut, to a possible season-ending injury last week against the Rockets.
The only true centre they have on their roster, and one of the best defensive players in the game, Bogut's absence forces the Bucks into a much more up-tempo game reliant on outside shooting.
These teams met a couple of weeks ago and even the presence of Bogut wasn't enough to contain Pistons centre Greg Munroe, who had a monster night. The Bucks won that match 102-93 and will again go in as favourites for this match thanks to home-court advantage and the Pistons four-game losing streak.
The Pistons are also expected to be without Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva through injury. At no stage this year have the Pistons had their full complement of players and they have struggled to be competitive in many of their matches.
Milwaukee has had a brutal January schedule, only playing seven of their 19 games at home. Despite this, and the absence of Bogut, Mike Dunleavy and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the Bucks find themselves with a reasonably respectable 8-11 record. They knocked off the Lakers on Sunday and will be eager to keep that momentum going against Detroit. The Bucks defense has improved and enables them to get out on the break and score some cheap points.
This will be pivotal if they are to be a play-off team without Bogut.
Detroit will again rely heavily on Greg Munroe in this match, particularly with the Bucks being down on height. The Bucks will look to push the ball and hope that their jumpers are falling in the same way they did against the Lakers.
The Pistons have the lowest points per game of all the teams in the NBA, which means that the 'Total Points' line will be quite low, probably around the 180-mark.
With the Bucks relying on the three-ball a lot more, Iook for that line to be covered and back the overs.
