The Pistons haven't played a truly meaningful regular-season game in April for the last two seasons, their playoff seed virtually locked in both years weeks before the regular season played out. This year? That's not very likely to be the case.
Which is just another reason why this week's West Coast games should keep you up past your bedtime. Not only are the Pistons looking at three teams all hoping to make noise themselves in the postseason - Portland on Wednesday, followed by a daunting back-to-back Friday and Saturday at Denver and Utah - they also need to be cognizant of the Eastern Conference standings.
It might seem a little early to be scoreboard watching, but when the calendar turns to January the standings take on greater significance. Over the next two weeks, most teams will have hit the halfway point of their schedules. So even though the Pistons are only five games back of Boston and Cleveland in the loss column, if the Celtics and Cavs keep up their first-half pace they'll only lose about 14 or 15 games all season.
That means the Pistons would have to go something like 48-2 in their final 50 to finish ahead of them. Even the three-game edge Orlando has on the Pistons in the loss column is a significant cushion this far along in the season. Barring injury, teams that have established winning percentages of .750 or better for almost half a season aren't likely to suddenly start losing games in bunches.
The good news for the Pistons is that their seven-game win streak has begun to open some distance between them and the teams chasing them, too. They've pulled even in the loss column with Atlanta. If they can say the same thing after this week plays out, they'll have gained a real edge over the Hawks.
Of the nine contenders for the West's eight playoff spots - nine West teams have between five and 15 losses; the other six have between 23 and 30 losses - both Atlanta and the Pistons still have six to play on the road. By the end of this week, the Pistons will have only three left. Atlanta comes back from the All-Star break in late February with a five-game, nine-day Western road trip that includes games with the Lakers, Portland, Utah and Denver. Ouch.
By the time that trip is over, and the calendar turns to March, the Pistons should have a better idea where they stand. The one team behind them that could make a run is Miami, three games back in the loss column but playing well with recent wins over Cleveland and the Lakers.
If Boston, Cleveland and Orlando maintain their current paces and go off as the 1-2-3 seeds in the East, then the Pistons, Atlanta and Miami will be in a dogfight for the final home-court seed in first-round matchups.
And the Pistons still have six games to play against them - all four with Miami and two more with Atlanta, against whom they were scheduled just three times this season. It's to Atlanta's advantage that the Pistons only get them at The Palace once, Feb. 11 - the last game before the All-Star break, a game coaches often dread because players are looking forward to a long weekend getaway flight.
How the Pistons fare in those six games might determine whether or not they get home-court advantage in the first round. It could even come down to the season's final game when the Pistons play at Miami on April 15 - tax day.
Taking care of business this week, of course, will put the Pistons in a much more favorable position - both for their chances at sneaking into the top three or, at least, solidifying their odds at landing the No. 4 seed ahead of Atlanta and Miami.
Business would be easier to manage for the Pistons if they can get Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton back for the Portland game. Their relatively close calls with Western doormats Sacramento and the LA Clippers the past two games put an undue scoring burden on Rodney Stuckey, Allen Iverson and Tayshaun Prince. Even getting one or the other back will distribute the scoring burden a little more evenly and give Michael Curry a little rotation flexibility to shorten the minutes of those three.
It doesn't hurt that Portland will be without Brandon Roy, nursing a hamstring injury, and Utah All-Star Carlos Boozer is scheduled to undergo minor surgery to clean up debris in a knee injury that's lingered far longer than expected. In Roy's two-plus NBA seasons, he's missed 36 games. The Blazers are 11-25 when he's out, 82-80 when he plays.
Then it's on to Denver, where the competitive juices of both sides will be aboil - the Pistons to show Chauncey Billups they can move on without him, Billups eager to show them what he's still capable of doing. And, finally, Utah, where the Pistons - playing their third contender in four nights - will be trying to end two streaks: a seven-game losing streak to the Jazz, most recently a double-overtime loss Dec. 19 at The Palace; and a five-game losing streak in Utah, their last win coming on Nov. 6, 2002.
- Walter Sharpe knocked off a little rust in his first two NBA D-League games over the weekend as Fort Wayne split a pair with Iowa. On Saturday night, Sharpe scored 10 points, shooting 3 of 10, grabbed four rebounds and had two steals in 24 minutes. In foul trouble on Sunday, he played 20 minutes and scored nine points, shooting 3 of 6, with three rebounds. Alex Acker was better, playing 38 and 42 minutes and scoring 20 and 22. They'll take part in two more games Tuesday and Wednesday at the D-League Showcase in Orem, Utah, before rejoining the Pistons for their Friday game in Denver.
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Award-winning journalist Keith Langlois, most recently lead sports columnist at The Oakland Press, joined Pistons.com as the web site editor on October 2, 2006. Langlois, who brings over 27 years of professional sports journalism experience to Palace Sports & Entertainment, serves as Pistons.com's official beat writer and covers the team on a daily basis.