Despite missing their best player, the Detroit Pistons have won three in a row, and with Indiana’s loss last night, have pulled within one game of the 4th seed and hosting a playoff series in the first round.
The Pistons have identical home and road records, but it would be nice to get their first-round opponent away from their home buildings, as all three likely teams are better at home.
Unfortunately for Detroit, they are getting the injury bug at precisely the wrong time after mostly avoiding it all season.
Cade Cunningham has missed three straight games and will be listed as day-to-day until further notice. You can blow this off as a team just trying to get their best player some rest in the home stretch, but given what is at stake, I have to believe Cunningham would be in there if he could be, so count me as concerned.
It’s been great for the Pistons to get wins without him, as it gets more reps for other players and continues to build the confidence of the complementary guys, but let’s be real here, without Cade, this team has zero chance of winning a playoff game, so they need him back as soon as possible.
Pistons injuries vs. Timberwolves: Is Cade Cunningham playing tonight?
Cade Cunningham has been downgraded to doubtful for tonight’s game against Minnesota, which is not good news, as he was questionable for last game.
Tobias Harris has been upgraded to probable, as has Dennis Schroder, a new name on the injury report. Shroder took a beating in the last game, so it’s not surprising to see him with some bruises, but without Cade, the Pistons desperately need his ballhandling.
Jaden Ivey remains out and will be evaluated again in the middle of April.
It’s going to be a next man up theme again, so we’ll see who it’s going to be tonight. It would be a great time for Malik Beasley, Marcus Sasser, Ron Holland or Ausar Thompson to have a huge night.
The Timberwolves, who have the exact same record as the Pistons, only have Terrence Shannon Jr. listed as questionable, so they’ll have nearly their full complement of players tonight.
Both teams are within striking distance of the team just ahead of them in the standings and would like to get a win tonight, so don’t expect the T-Wolves to be resting anyone.
How to watch Pistons vs. Timberwolves
The glorious two weeks of the year when the U.S. is on daylight savings time and Ireland isn’t officially ended last night, so I’ll be back to watching games at midnight, which is 7:00 PM ET back home.
The game will be shown on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, you can listen on 97.1 FM The Ticket or there are plenty of streaming options.