A run to the Eastern Conference Finals is never going to be easy, obviously, and the Detroit Pistons know that. They will need to bring the energy and play how they've been playing all season long to reach their first ECF in nearly 20 years.
With that being said, the last day of the season did (theoretically) put the Pistons in a good spot to mak a run. We now the Pistons themselves secured the No. 1 seed long ago, and we won't know who they play in the first round until early next week. But now we know the four teams that could be the No. 8 seed the Pistons face off against; the 76ers, Magic, Hornets, or Heat.
Out of that group, the Hornets are pretty comfortably the scariest opponent. They've been legitimately one of the best teams in the league for multiple months now (even though the Pistons swept the season series, 3-0). Now, as the Hornets finished the season in the No. 9 seed, they will need to win two games to even face the Pistons in the first round — winning two games with the season on the line and then expecting to compete with the best team in the East is a monstrously tall task.
The other potential opponents — the Orlando Magic, the (likely) Embiid-less 76ers, and the Miami Heat — are not particularly scary in my opinion. Orlando did beat the Pistons in NBA Cup play this year. But they have been highly uneven in the season at large, and are not particularly scary in a best-of-seven grind.
The Atlanta Hawks do look like a real threat in the East, so them securing the No. 6 seed is likely good news for the Pistons.
Pistons would face the Cavaliers or Raptors in the second round
Of course, the Cleveland Cavaliers are not a cake walk. They added James Harden in hopes that he would lift them over the second round hump they've butted up against for multiple years now. The thought process makes sense — but at the same time, that's a lot of hope to pin on Harden, who has gotten a (sometimes fair, sometimes not) reputation of disappointing in the postseason.
Either way, if the Pistons play their game, the Cavaliers' No. 15-ranked defense is probably not good enough to go blow-for-blow with an elite Pistons defensive unit. Even with the Pistons dominance of the Knicks in the regular season, I think the Knicks are a better team overall than the Cavaliers, and in the postseason, I think that remains the most important point.
Should the Pistons reach the ECF, the Boston Celtics will likely await. There's no way around it — that team is scarily good with Jayson Tatum back in the mix. But that's a bridge Pistons fans will cross once they get there. In the meantime, things broke relatively well for Detroit Basketball.