The Pistons have already gotten their ideal Play-In outcome by seeing the Heat get eliminated. Of course, Detroit isn’t scared of any Play-In team considering how good they’ve been even against top teams. But the Heat were arguably the worst matchup from a play style perspective for the East’s top seed.
The Pistons would rather not face the Heat
The Heat are actually perfectly built to counter the Pistons with their well-balanced roster and defensive specialties. They’re well-coached with reliable veteran talent and capable of exploiting teams with poor shooting. It’s no surprise that the Pistons went just 2-2 against them in the regular season, including one decisive loss at home.
But the Pistons don’t have to worry about facing the Heat anymore after Tuesday’s Play-In action. In an overtime thriller, the Hornets escaped with a narrow victory over the Heat to seal Miami’s lottery fate. And it couldn’t be better news for the Pistons.
At first glance, the Hornets might seem like the more dangerous team. After all, they were one of the hottest teams across the league in the second half of the season. They even posted a 29-12 record in the final 41 games, the same as the Pistons.
The Hornets are less of a threat to Detroit
But the Pistons match up very well against the Hornets. We saw this recently when the Pistons chose to play all their starters against Charlotte even after securing the first seed. In that game, they once again demolished the Hornets to sweep the season series 3-0.
What’s more, the Pistons won those games by an average of 16 points per game. The Hornets have frequently blown out other teams in recent months, but they’re on the receiving end whenever they play the Pistons. And it all comes down to the clash of play styles.
The Hornets lack the interior presence needed to combat the Pistons. They don’t have anyone to slow down bigs like Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart, or even reliably keep Cade Cunningham out of the paint. Whenever these two teams match up, the Pistons’ advantage in the paint and on the boards more than makes up for any shooting disadvantage.
Additionally, the Hornets play a very risky style of offense. They get up a lot of threes and also commit a lot of turnovers - both of these outcomes can lead to transition opportunities for the Pistons. Whether it’s a long rebound off a missed three or a steal, the Pistons are quick to turn those runouts into easy baskets on the other end.
For all the hype around the Hornets, they haven’t been able to seriously threaten the Pistons at all this season. Instead, they just did the Pistons a huge favor by eliminating their worst matchup of all the Play-In teams.
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