Surprising teams Pistons fans should cheer against in the home stretch

With just 29 games left in the season, it’s never too early to start watching the scoreboard for potential playoff matchups and draft position. 

The Pistons enjoy a 5.5 game lead on the Eastern Conference and hope to hold that spot to have home court advantage throughout the playoffs. They obviously need to take care of their own business, including an upcoming brutal stretch for which they will be shorthanded, but there are other teams to monitor. 

Of course, we’ll be checking in on all of the teams directly behind the Pistons in the standings, but there are other teams to watch including a couple in the Western Conference. 

The Timberwolves control the Pistons’ pick 

The Pistons have a pick swap in the 2026 draft with the Minnesota Timberwolves, which would currently be 21st, moving them up nine positions, a nice bonus to the Jaden Ivey trade. 

Minnesota is bunched up with several teams, so there is likely to be more movement here and it would be great if the T’Wolves could drop one more spot to hand the Pistons the 20th pick, but that’s as far as it can go, as the pick has top-19 protections. 

The Pistons need Minnesota to lose, but not too much. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the scariest 1st-round opponent 

I’m hoping the Bucks don’t end up as the 8th seed, as playing a healthy Giannis in the first round is not ideal. The Bucks with Giannis are the scariest potential 8th seed, so it would be nice for them to fall in the standings and stay out of it. 

They are only 1.5 games behind the Hawks, and Giannis says he is ready to play, so they are one to watch in the play-in chase.

The battle for the top overall seed 

This is just me being greedy, as I would be more than happy with a number one seed in the Eastern Conference, but the Pistons are also in the running for the top record overall. 

We’ll see how this looks after the next eight games, but right now they are neck and neck with the Thunder. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers made moves 

We’ll have to see how they work out, but the Cavs made a flurry of moves at the trade deadline. 

They added James Harden, but also Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder, so they have patched some weaknesses and aren’t the same team that got out to a slow start. 

They’ve won five straight and are now the 4th seed, which would set up a second-round matchup with Detroit if both teams were to hold their seeds and win in the first round, which is no given. 

The Pistons have split with the Cavs so far this season with two games upcoming on February 27th and March 3rd, so we’ll have a better understanding of how they stack up.

The Cavs are just a game behind the Knicks and 1.5 behind the Celtics, and I wouldn’t be shocked if they ended up as the two seed before this is all over.