Pistons schedule: Detroit should be in unfamiliar place by end of the month

You can’t make the playoffs in November, so the fact that the Detroit Pistons are currently in the 6th seed means little in the grand scheme of an NBA season. 

But that doesn’t mean we can’t be excited about a better-than-expected start that has seen improvement across the board but especially on the defensive end.

Given how low the bar was set after last season’s debacle, that’s not saying much, but fans in Detroit finally have something to be optimistic about. 

The Pistons flirted with .500 before losing to the Bulls, a position they have not been in this late in a season since Alpha Ginger Blake Griffin was limping around Detroit. 

A quick peek at the schedule shows the Pistons have a chance to get there by the end of the month. 

Detroit Pistons schedule: The end of November 

The Pistons are currently 7-9 as of the writing of this and have a game against the Hornets tonight in Charlotte. No games are guarantees for the Pistons, but I would categorize a road game in Charlotte as winnable, especially since the Hornets are missing their top two centers. 

After the Hornets, the Pistons travel to Orlando to take on the Magic, who have been impressive even though they are missing Paolo Banchero. 

It turns out Franz Wagner is pretty good, as the Pistons have learned first-hand several times, but without Banchero, the Pistons will at least stand a chance on the road in Orlando. 

Detroit will then return home to play the Raptors, a game they should and must win if they want to be taken seriously in the East, as Toronto is just 3-12 and has a slew of key injuries. 

The Pistons have away games against Memphis and Indiana, and if they can get a split from those two games they will head home to play Philadelphia with a chance to close out the month with a .500 record, which would be an amazing accomplishment considering they’ve played a busy and tough schedule so far. 

We can’t get ahead of ourselves when it comes to the Pistons and the playoffs, as there is still far too much season left and a million things could change between now and the New Year, but considering the Pistons were completely out of it by Thanksgiving last year, this is a marked improvement. 

I’ve had a strange feeling this year, which is that the Pistons should win certain games, when I never felt that way last year. If they could finish the month at the .500 mark, Detroit will be buzzing.