Isaiah Stewart recently made a claim that's sure to resonate with every fan of the Detroit Pistons. Speaking on his injury that kept him out of nearly all of the Pistons' first-round series with the New York Knicks in April, Stewart claimed that Detroit would have won the series had he remained healthy.
Obviously, that was a tightly contested series that the Pistons made very difficult for that Knicks team even without Stewart's contributions. During last regular season, Isaiah was one of Detroit's most reliable rim protectors and overall defensive disruptors. It was clear that his absence in the playoffs was a big difference maker, as the Pistons' defense lacked an internal anchor once he went down.
One of the areas in which Stewart's absence was felt most was in the matchup with Karl-Anthony Towns, as he mentions. "I felt had I played, the series would have turned out different and we would have been able to advance — adding what I do on defense and my task with guarding KAT in that series," Stewart said. "So, I feel like it would have been a different outcome.”
Stewart believes Detroit would have advanced had he remained healthy
This is certainly a reasonable stance to have. Without a high level defender they could stick on KAT, the Knicks were able to lean more into his scoring ability and versatility. It's reasonable to think Isaiah's physicality and defensive instincts would have absolutely changed how effective Towns was.
Pistons fans have been saying it pretty much all summer. Stewart's injury robbed them of not only a shot at taking down New York in round one, but potentially an even greater playoff run. It's not that unreasonable to think Detroit could have replicated what the Knicks did and taken down what was eventually going to become an injured Celtics team in the second round.
It has to feel very validating to all of Detroit to hear Stewart come out and say this publicly. And at the same time, making this kind of statement does put a certain pressure on both him and the team. He's sending a message that this coming season, they really can't afford to lose him again.
The Pistons have a special opportunity on their hands over the course of the next six-plus months to prove that last season wasn't a fluke. And if they can retain a clean bill of health, they're going to have as good a chance as anyone to make a strong run through the postseason come next April.