Detroit Pistons Have Prime Opportunity To Make Up Ground

Looking at the Detroit Pistons’ upcoming schedule, they have a prime opportunity to make up ground in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Detroit Pistons need to take advantage of the NBA’s generosity in their scheduling through the holiday season. The Pistons are scheduled to play six games over the next two weeks, and all six games are winnable. Of those six games, they have beaten three of the teams and played four of them already this season.

Not only are the upcoming games all winnable for the Pistons, none of them are scheduled on back-to-back meetings. They also get three of the six games on home court at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The downside of the next two weeks is that Detroit will be alternating home and away games, with no consecutive home or road games.

The problem comes with the wear and tear of the constant travel that could fatigue players.

Not to fear, the Pistons should get the long-awaited return of Brandon Jennings, who has been out since Jan. 24 with a torn left Achilles, according to the Detroit Free Press’ Marlowe Alter. Head coach Stan Van Gundy said that “it’s a matter of timing” on when Jennings will return, but that “he’s ready to go I think.”

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Jennings would add a needed boost to the bench. He would have to win a competition between current back up Steve Blake to earn more minutes. It appears that the Pistons are going to ease back into competition. But as Alter reported, Jennings has been participating in five-on-five scrimmages.

With Jennings set to return sometime within the next two weeks, the Pistons are in good shape. They have had great play from point guard Reggie Jackson, who was acquired shortly after Jennings’ injury. Jackson is the biggest factor when it comes to winning or losing games.

Jackson in wins: 23.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 7.0 apg, 49%/46.2%/84.8%
Jackson in losses: 16.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 5.4 apg, 36.4/24.6/87.9

The Pistons can typically count on Andre Drummond for a double-double. He has 27 double-doubles in 31 games this season. As for the other players, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope provides good defense against opposing team’s best scorers, Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova both provide great hustle and average a combined 25.1 points per game.

The Pistons have shown that they have the pieces to make the playoffs.

Detroit holds a 17-14 record entering this important two-week stretch of games. They are 10th in the Eastern Conference standings, but are only three-and-a-half games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 1 overall seed. With such a competitive conference through the first third of the season, it makes the upcoming games even more crucial.

The Pistons begin their climb up the standings on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden against the 14-18 New York Knicks. Jackson will have to exploit the mismatch at the point guard position for the Pistons to win. The Knicks have struggled offensively, averaging 97.7 points per game this season (23rd in NBA). Both teams are good defensively.

The Pistons are 14th defensively (99.9 oppg) and the Knicks are 10th (99.6 oppg). It will be an important game to win with the Knicks having a bad season.

Dec 22, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Reggie Jackson (1) dribbles the ball against the Miami Heat during the first half at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

Detroit will close out the 2015 calendar year by hosting the 11-20 Minnesota Timberwolves on New Year’s Eve. The matchup to watch is how Jackson will play against a stat sheet stuffer in Ricky Rubio. Rubio’s value goes beyond the box score due to his leadership and team chemistry. He’s averaging 2.2 steals per game this season, which means Jackson needs to take care of the basketball against a great team in transition.

Their third game is against the 18-12 Indiana Pacers, who they are currently splitting the season series with. The Pacers are seventh in the league in scoring, averaging 102.7 points per game and are sixth in points allowed with 98.7 opponent’s points per game. In their 118-96 win over the Pacers earlier this year, Drummond only had eight points but the Pistons still managed to have five players score in double figures.

It’s important for them to move the ball again to take a 2-1 season series lead.

On Jan. 4, the Pistons will play the 18-13 Orlando Magic. The two teams will be meeting for the first time this season. Both teams are so similar that there are two matchups to watch, Caldwell-Pope against Victor Oladipo at the shooting guard position and Andre Drummond battling Nikola Vucevic at the center position. This game will be determined based on who wins those two position battles.

Detroit will travel to take on the 18-13 Boston Celtics in the toughest two game stretch during this stretch of games. The Pistons won the first matchup 119-116 but lost the second matchup 99-93. With the series split, the Pistons will need to have someone other than Jackson or Drummond step up against the Celtics. Caldwell-Pope scored 31 points in the win, but the Celtics spread the ball around when they won by having six different scorers in double figures.

The Pistons end their two-week stretch with a home game against the 8-22 Brooklyn Nets. Detroit had a bad loss in their first meeting in Brooklyn. They were outscored 28-16 in the fourth quarter and lost 87-83. The Pistons need to shoot better than their 33.7 percent performance in that first game. Notably, Jackson shot 4-for-20 (20 percent) in the loss.

The Pistons are talented enough to sweep the season series, and need to play like they are capable of to take care of the Nets.

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Detroit has the talent to go 6-0 during this two-week stretch of games, and it is necessary. Their subsequent four games are against the San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls. The Pistons won seven of their first nine games in 2015 during the last NBA season. They have the same opportunity this year as the calendar turns to 2016.

With this set of winnable games with no back-to-backs, it’s important for the Pistons to take advantage of a favorable schedule.

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