Pistons can't afford to play with their food

After the Pistons’ loss to the Hawks coupled with the Celtics’ win over the Thunder last night, Detroit is now four games ahead of Boston with just 10 remaining. The Pistons are just 4.5 ahead of the Knicks, so Detroit cannot afford a loss tonight against the Pelicans. 

It will be the second game of a back-to-back after a grueling overtime loss in which the starters had to play huge minutes with the bench largely ineffective. 

Atlanta had a lot of things break their way, and the Pistons still had a chance to win the game in the closing seconds. The Hawks are also a good team on a hot streak, so this didn’t constitute a bad loss, especially with Cade Cunningham out. 

The Pistons will get a chance to bounce back tonight against a bad New Orleans team, but the Pelicans have been playing better of late, so this is not a game they can take lightly and expect to coast to a win. 

The Pelicans are not one of the league’s tankers, as they stupidly traded away their first-round pick in the next draft, so they are still trying to win every game. 

The Pistons have only lost 20 games this season, but five of them have been to some of the worst teams in the league, including the Bulls, Mavericks, Jazz, Wizards and Nets, so the Pistons can get caught by anyone if they don’t bring the energy. 

When you look at the Pistons’ remaining schedule, now is not the time to mess around. 

Pistons’ schedule makes this a must-win against New Orleans 

After tonight’s home game against the Pels, the Pistons will hit the road to face Minnesota and then onto Oklahoma City, two games that will be tough wins without their best player. 

They are then back home for the Raptors and another one against Minnesota, so their next four games are against two of the best teams in the West and the Raptors, who just beat the Pistons recently. 

The Celtics and Knicks still have work to do to catch the Pistons, and all three teams have tough remaining schedules with Detroit 12th, Boston 11th and the Knicks 4th in remaining strength of schedule. 

The Pistons still have a buffer but can’t afford to drop any more games against the teams they should beat. If the Pistons can just handle their business against the bad teams, they should be able to hold onto their number one spot, especially if they get some help from some of the teams playing Boston and New York.