The Detroit Pistons end their NBA season on Sunday in Philadelphia. However, there is a good chance that some players will continue playing. The Motor City Cruise start the G-League playoffs on Friday, and there will be plenty of former and current Pistons players in action.
While the NBA franchise in Detroit is, once again, missing out on the postseason, that is not true for its G-League affiliate, the expansion Motor City Cruise. Despite being a first-year franchise, the Cruise had a bye in the first round of the playoffs, having finished second in the Eastern Conference.
The Cruise (22-10) host the Delaware Blue Coats (22-10), the affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers, on Friday (8:30 p.m.) at Wayne State University in a second round contest. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
Some well-known names to Pistons fans will be in action: Luka Garza, Saben Lee, Jamorko Pickett and Braxton Key. They all either have NBA or two-way contracts with the big club.
And remember those feisty pick-up Detroit Pistons players who filled in when the entire team, except Hamidou Diallo and Saddiq Bey, was wiped out due to injury or COVID-19. They beat the San Antonio Spurs (who made the Play-in, so they were not bad) and some of them stayed around with the Cruise.
Two starters from that Spurs win, Detroit native Derrick Walton Jr. and Cassius Stanley, will be in action against Delaware.
And do not forget Deividas Sirvydis. The player Detroit traded three second-rounders for and played for them last season. He is still around, even though he was released last summer, with the Pistons eating his guaranteed $1.5 million contract, contract. And he played for the Pistons in December as well.
The Blue Coats will have the 76ers first-round pick, guard Jaden Springer, as well as two very promising big men in Charles Bassey and Paul Reed (last year’s G-League MVP). In the opinion of most 76ers fans, one of them, or both, should be backing up center Joel Embiid, but coach Doc Rivers seems to prefer washed former Lakers who were good in 2015.
It will be an interesting game, as there are plenty of players who played for the Pistons this season that get a taste of playoff action.
Everyone always talks about how playoff basketball is different than the regular season. Now, playing the Blue Coats is not like, say, facing the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA Play-in tournament, but the pressure is the same.
For Pistons fans, any playoff is better than none at all, so the Cruise playoff game is a chance to see some familiar faces in the post-season.