It’s been a strange season for the Detroit Pistons when it comes to injuries.
After years of being decimated, the Pistons mostly avoided them, something Trajan Langdon emphasized, making availability a trait he coveted in offseason additions.
They did lose Jaden Ivey to a freak injury in which he broke his leg back at the beginning of January, which at the time looked like something that would threaten to undermine the season, as Ivey was playing well.
Instead, the Pistons took off with Ausar Thompson in the starting five and found the defensive identity that would carry them to the playoffs, all without Ivey.
As fun as this season has been, Ivey has been lurking in the background, a potential X-Factor who could give the Pistons a boost.
The chances of an Ivey return remain slim, but he and the team gave fans hope yesterday with videos of Ivey practicing and appearing to run at nearly full speed. He was already cleared for basketball activities and is now ramping up his conditioning.
Ivey has already been posting cryptic messages and photos on his Instagram account, so while no one thinks his return is imminent, the door has been left open. If the Pistons can push this series into the six or seven game range or make it to the 2nd round, who knows, maybe we’ll see Ivey this season.
I wrote about what that might look like, which would almost certainly be a small role off the bench, but it would be a great story and one to follow as the playoffs go on, as there are a lot of off days in the schedule that might give Ivey the necessary time to get back.
Pistons injuries vs. Knicks
Both the Pistons and Knicks have a clean injury report otherwise, though it should be noted that both Cade Cunningham and Jalen Brunson have had injuries fairly recently. Brunson is coming off a sprained ankle that kept him out for a few weeks, but he appears to be full strength (or as close as anyone is this time of the year) to start the playoffs.
Stopping the Brunson/KAT pick and roll will be one of the primary defensive objectives for the Pistons, who need to make both of these guys work on both ends.
The Knicks run a tight rotation with their starters playing big minutes, so it will be interesting to see if the young, run-and-gun Pistons can wear them down as the series goes on.
How to watch Pistons vs Knicks
Apparently, this will be the final season that local broadcasters call playoff games, another huge mistake by the NBA in a string of them when it comes to their coverage. It’s another disconnect between a league that loves to tell fans what they want instead of listening to them.
You can watch tonight’s 6:00 PM ET tip-off on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, ESPN or listen on 97.1 FM The Ticket.
There is nothing left to say except, LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOO!