Playing “what if” with the Detroit Pistons’ final games

The Detroit Pistons need one win to secure their first playoff berth in six seasons. That sets up the Pistons for their biggest game of the season against the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

With the Detroit Pistons winning a hard fought game against the Orlando Magic last night (108-104) the Pistons are now a win away from guaranteeing a playoff berth for the first time in six seasons.

Now there is another way the Pistons can get in–a Chicago Bulls loss would eliminate the Bulls–but the Washington Wizards would also need to lose one of their remaining games since the Wizards own the tiebreaker over the Pistons.

That sets up a pivotal game for the Pistons on Friday night where they take on the Wizards at the Palace.

The Wizards have had the Pistons’ number this season winning all three contests 97-95, 98-86, and finally a 124-81 beating–the Pistons’ worst loss of the season.

The problem with Friday night’s game against Washington is that each time these two teams have played, the Wizards have widened their margin of victory, which doesn’t exactly instill confidence going into Friday’s game.

I’d chalk the last match up to a fluke game given that was by far the Pistons’ worst game of the season– and one of the Wizards best games of the season–but that doesn’t change the fact that the Pistons haven’t been very competitive the last two meetings.

Assuming the worst, if the Pistons lose against the Wizards, Washington and Chicago’s remaining schedule are far from easy.

The Wizards play the Charlotte Hornets, at Brooklyn Nets, and Atlanta Hawks–but their two toughest games are home games.

They could win all of those games.

The Bulls play at Miami Heat today, Cleveland Cavaliers, at New Orleans Pelicans, and Philadelphia 76ers.

I don’t think the Bulls beat both the Heat and Cavaliers, but if they do beat Miami, there’s always the chance that the Cavaliers rest one or more of their starters, as they’ve done a few times of late.

The Pistons will have their final home game against the Heat, then go on the road to play the Cleveland Cavaliers–a game the Cavaliers hopefully rest their starters for as they gear up for the playoffs.

There’s no freebies in there, and the Cavaliers could opt to play their starters against the Pistons to try and knock out the Pistons if that scenario is possible, should they feel like Washington is a more favorable match up.

In other words, the Pistons are still a near lock to make the playoffs should they lose to Washington on Friday, but leaving the door open could be dangerous.