Detroit Pistons Keep Playoff Hopes Alive With Two Straight Wins

The Detroit Pistons have finally pulled themselves into the seventh place in the East and have a two-game winning streak. But how long will they keep it?

By winning their last two games, the Detroit Pistons have pushed themselves out of that dreaded eighth place in the East.

This means that, if they stay in seventh place, they would not have to face the Cleveland Cavaliers as the standings are currently constituted, thus likely being eliminated in the first round. But they are not far from falling into eighth place again.

The Milwaukee Bucks are only one game back from taking that seventh spot.

But the Pistons’ latest success seems to have been spurred by their newfound stars.

After the Pistons were down 15 points in the first quarter against the Cavaliers on Thursday, Marcus Morris spoke up about his team’s noticeably underwhelming defense, something that has been a huge problem for the Pistons this season.

Morris went on an expletive-filled tirade in an early timeout with an emphasis on, “Stay in the locker room,” if his teammates weren’t willing to compete.

"“I just didn’t like our energy and the way we came out in the beginning of the game … we came out sluggish and they were dunking and hanging on the rim”, said Morris on Saturday, according to the Detroit News."

Subsequently, the Pistons were able to outscore the Cavaliers by 12 in the fourth quarter in a much-needed win against the top team in the East.

Coming into their game against the New York Knicks on Saturday, Stan Van Gundy made the decision to place Marcus Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as the leaders of the team.

"“(Morris and Caldwell-Pope) have shown signs of being guys that would speak up and they are two guys, not saying they’re the only ones, but they are two guys you can really count on to bring pretty good effort and competitiveness themselves, and that is an absolute must if you are going to say something to somebody else,” said Van Gundy."

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Tobias Harris, who was just recently added to the starting lineup, scored 23 of his 28 points in the first half. He added five assists, seven rebounds and two blocks to end the night.

In addition to the team relying on their young players, contributions from Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson have become more prominent. Both players were involved in trade rumors this season because of their inability to be an advantage to their team.

However in the past two games, Drummond and Jackson have scored a combined 84 points.

This new plan of relying on unexpected players to lead the team while having the contributions of the regular team leaders increase has led the Pistons to two straight wins. But how long will this last?

In order to remain in seventh place, they will have to continue what they have been doing this month.

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That means when they play against the Cleveland Cavaliers again on Tuesday, they will have to play with the same vigor and mentality that allowed them outscore that team last week. And it has to come from every player.

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