The Detroit Pistons can breathe a sigh of relief after beating the Raptors last night and clinching a playoff spot for the first times since the 2018-19 season.
It wasn’t beautiful basketball by any means, but the Pistons took care of business with two starters on the bench with injuries to go along with Isaiah Stewart who was serving the second game of his suspension.
The Pistons were clearly not going to rush Cade Cunningham back and now they don’t have to, as Detroit has four straight games at home, so Cade will almost certainly return at some point during this homestand and in time for the two games against the Bucks to finish the season.
The Pistons now have a half game lead on the Bucks for the 5th spot and five games to hold onto it, which won’t be easy considering all of them are against good teams, including home/road matchups with the Bucks which may ultimately decide who is playing who in the first round of the playoffs.
It’s either going to be the Knicks or the Pacers and we may get a sense of who the Pistons prefer by how they handle these next five games.
Pistons injuries vs. Grizzlies: Is Cade Cunningham playing tonight?
If the Pistons had lost last night, there might be slightly more pressure to bring Cade Cunningham back against Memphis, but now that they have clinched, Detroit will continue to give him all the time he needs.
Cunningham is still listed as questionable and day-to-day, so we’ll once again have to wait until game time to find out if he’s playing.
It would be nice to see Cunningham back for at least 3-4 games before the playoffs start to allow him to work himself into shape and shake off the rust.
Tobias Harris is also listed as questionable and Jaden Ivey is still out, though we’ll be getting an update on his status about a week.
The Grizzlies will be missing Brandon Clarke, Vince Williams Jr. and Zyon Pullin.
Memphis has dropped from the 5th seed to the 8th after inexplicably firing their coach deep into the season, which still ranks as one of the stranger moves I’ve seen a team make.
How to watch Pistons vs. Grizzlies
The Pistons are on national TV again, this time on NBA TV, but you can also watch the game on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit or listen on 97.1 FM The Ticket.
You can find some of the many streaming options here.