The Detroit Pistons won’t play another game until Friday, so should be well rested and ready to push for the playoffs.
They are sitting alone in the 6th seed, a precarious spot with the Magic, Hawks and Heat not far behind them. Another way of looking at it is that the Pistons are closer to the 4th seed than to the 7th, so moving up is not out of the question.
But they do have a tough remaining schedule, especially the last 10 games, so this is far from sewn up and we are likely to see shifts in the Eastern Conference standings nearly every day.
In addition to some great games to look forward to in the last 27, there are also individual matchups to circle on your calendar.
2/21 @ San Antonio Spurs: Jalen Duren vs. Victor Wembanyama
The Pistons’ first game post-All-Star break will be in San Antonio, where they will be facing Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.
They have two remaining against San Antonio, and both should be interesting. The Spurs are still trying to incorporate De’Aaron Fox into their rotation and have only won three of their last 10 games, dropping them to 23-29 on the season.
Wembanyama is a tough matchup for any living human and that includes Duren, as Wemby loves to launch 3-point shots (10 attempts per game) and Duren has not been particularly good at defending on the perimeter.
This is going to be a great test for Duren, who needs to get better at defending in space, which he will have to do against Wemby. It will also be interesting to see if Duren can take advantage of his strength in the post, but so far, it hasn’t been any kind of problem for Wembanyama, who is leading the league in blocks and going to run away with the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Duren needs to make him work hard, stay out of foul trouble and try to get out in transition off stops.
3/15 vs. OKC: Cade Cunningham vs. Shai Gilgeous Alexander
The Pistons have two more meetings against the Thunder this season, not great considering OKC is currently 44-10 and looks like one of the front runners for a title this season.
This is a big test for Cade, as he’ll be going against an MVP candidate and a guy with a similar game, as SGA also likes to get to the rim, is a killer in the mid-range and is the focal point of his offense.
The Thunder are the team the Pistons should be trying to emulate, as they built around one superstar, and two complementary stars surrounded with quality depth and players who know their roles, which is hopefully what the Pistons are doing.
3/28 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: Pistons’ bigs vs. Cavs’ bigs
The Pistons are 0-3 against the Cavs this season and have one more game to try and knock off their division rival.
Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart have been handily bested by their counterparts on the Cavs, as both Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen have been tough matchups and have had big games against the Pistons.
Mobley dropped 30 in the last one and it seemed as though he was launching wide-open 3-point shots all game.
Jalen Duren has been playing much better of late, so this will be another test against guys he has not fared well against in the past.
4/5 vs. Memphis Grizzlies: Ausar Thompson vs. Ja Morant
I love the idea of putting a bigger wing on Morant to try and bother him and the Pistons have just the guy in Ausar Thompson.
The two likely won’t be matched up all night, but it will be interesting to see if the Pistons can use their size in the backcourt to create problems for Morant on both ends.
Thompson can make life difficult for anyone and the Pistons should target Morant on the other end every chance they get.
4/10 vs. Knicks: Cade Cunningham vs. Jalen Brunson
This one has been fun already this year and we get one more serving.
The Pistons are surprisingly 2-1 against the Knicks and their star guards have had some epic head-to-head battles already.
Brunson has been a Pistons killer, scoring 36, 31 and 31 points in their three meetings so far, but Cunningham has stepped up, scoring 22, 29 and 36 against the Knicks.
Both of these guys like the big moment and both teams should be playing for something in April, so this has the makings to be a special night in Little Caesar’s Arena.