The Eastern Conference is staged for a wild finish and the Detroit Pistons are at the heart of it.
After last night’s win, the Pistons are tied with the Bucks for the 5th seed, although Milwaukee is percentage points ahead and already owns the tiebreaker, so Detroit would have to beat them outright to claim the higher seed.
The Bucks have been struggling of late, as they’ve won just four of their last 10 games and got more devastating news last night.
Damian Lillard was diagnosed with blood clots and will miss the remainder of the season and presumably some of the next one if the timeline for other players holds true. This is unfortunate, as you hate to see any player get injured, especially a future Hall-of-Famer who won’t be in the league forever.
The Bucks have 11 games remaining to hold onto their spot, as it’s unlikely they catch the Pacers, who now have a two-game cushion and have won five in a row.
The Pistons are right on Milwaukee’s heels, but Detroit has the tougher remaining schedule, including two against the Bucks to finish the season, games that may ultimately decide who these teams play in the playoffs.
The Bucks have owned the Pistons in the entire Giannis era and Detroit hasn’t beaten them since 2022, so even without Lillard, those last two games against the Bucks are going to be tough ones.
If the Pistons are able to overtake the Bucks (are we sure they want to?) it would set up an epic 1st-round series that would likely test the limits of my blood pressure.
Detroit Pistons vs. Indiana Pacers
A once-heated rivalry has been re-ignited this season, as the Pistons and Pacers are both good again at the same time for the first time in years.
These two teams legitimately hate each other in a way that harkens back to the good old days when they regularly fought it out in the division and in the playoffs.
The Pistons are just 1-3 against Indiana this season and none of them have been particularly close games, but all of them have been heated and competitive with multiple technicals, ejections, pushing and shoving and plenty of talking, particularly from Tyrese Haliburton, who talks so much that even the normally reserved George Blaha was about to jump over the table and take a swing at him.
A first-round series between these two teams would be much-watch TV that may end up giving me a heart attack. I’ve been back in the gym recently, and I’d be lying if I said that the potential for this playoff series wasn’t part of the motivation to get in better shape.
The Pacers are not only the healthiest team of the 3-6 seeds, but are playing the best at the moment, so it might not be the worst thing if the Pistons came up short when it comes to overtaking Milwaukee in the standings.
Buckle in, as these last few weeks are going to be wild, and the intensity is only going to turn up after that regardless of how it shakes out.