2 Wins And In For Pistons, But It Won’t Be Easy

The Detroit Pistons are in a contested playoff race and can snap their 7-year postseason drought by winning 2 of their remaining 4 games.

The Detroit Pistons are on the cusp of breaking their seven-year playoff drought, but still have work to do in their final four games to guarantee their trip to the playoffs.

The Pistons currently have a two-game lead on the Chicago Bulls for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, meaning the Pistons can take matters into their own hands and clinch a playoff berth by winning two games and eliminating the Bulls from playoff contention.

Both the Bulls and Pistons have games against two teams who have safely secured playoff spots in the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat.

Detroit will play four games in a week’s time, which may be the easiest thing about their season’s end. With the Detroit Tigers‘ opening Comerica Park on Friday and the Detroit Red Wings in the midst of a playoff race, the Pistons have competition in their own city to win over fans as they make their final playoff push. The competition on the court doesn’t get much easier either.

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The Pistons will be playing in the second game of a back-to-back when they tip off against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. It’s always tough playing in consecutive nights, but the Pistons do have an edge after beating the Magic 118-102 on March 23.

That was the first meeting between the two teams after the Pistons dealt Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova for Tobias Harris, a deal that is working out in the Pistons’ favor.

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Then the Pistons will return home on Friday for a showdown with the Washington Wizards, who still have an outside chance at making the playoffs. The Pistons are 0-3 against the Wizards this season, and lost 124-81 last month in a game that featured little defense by the Pistons.

Detroit allowed the Wizards to shoot 56.7 percent from the field, while only shooting 40.5 percent from the field themselves. The Pistons will have an opportunity to officially squash the Wizards playoff dreams by defeating them Friday night.

It gets more difficult for the Pistons by playing a back-to-back to close the season against the Heat, who just embarrassed the Pistons on Tuesday night in a 107-89 win on national television, and their arch-rival Cavaliers, who are 32-7 at The Q.

The silver lining for the Pistons, if there is any, is that they are 2-1 against the Cavs and handed Cleveland one of their seven home losses this season.

Scheduling is tough for the Pistons to close the season against a couple of teams that they haven’t played well against. Winning two games to clinch a playoff berth regardless of what the Bulls and Wizards do will be tough. It’s not just about making the playoffs though, the Pistons also have playoff seeding on the line.

The Indiana Pacers are only a half-game ahead of the Pistons for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Indiana holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Pistons since they won three of the four meetings this season. The Pacers play five games to close the season, two of them against the East’s top two seeds in Cleveland and the Toronto Raptors.

Detroit may benefit most from eighth place, however. The eighth seed would play Cleveland, if all holds true to form right now. The Pistons have played the Cavs tight in all three games and have won two of those games.

If they were to earn the seventh seed they would be matched up against the Raptors, who they are 1-2 against this season. Their lone win against the Raptors came in a game where star point guard Kyle Lowry sat out for Toronto. It is also the only meeting the two teams have had since the Pistons acquired Harris at the NBA’s trade deadline.

Alas, the Pistons path to the playoffs is in their own hands, and can knock the Bulls and Wizards out of the playoffs by winning two games. With playoff seeding on the line, the Pistons will have to slay one of the East’s two dragons in the first round, whether it’s the Cavs or Raptors. There is a lot to play for in the Motor City in the final four games of the regular season.