Upcoming stretch of games could determine Pistons' postseason fate
AUBURN HILLS -- If the Detroit Pistons want a chance at an unexpected playoff spot, they are about to face their biggest stretch of the season.
Starting Wednesday, the Pistons play seven games in seven cities in 11 days, culminating in a four-game West Coast swing -- the last time they will have to cross the Mississippi River this season.
Given the complete chaos in the lower half of the Eastern Conference -- the Pistons (23-36) are in 12th place, but only three games out of seventh -- this stretch could see Detroit make a huge surge toward a postseason spot or fall completely out of the race.
On paper, even a 4-3 record is a lot to ask from a young, inconsistent team. They play three of the Western Conference's top four teams -- Houston, Golden State and Portland -- and another pair of squads battling for playoff spots in New Orleans and Charlotte.
The only games where they will be favored are on the final swing out west, where they face the Lakers and Utah, but even those two teams already have wins at the Palace this season.
Those games, plus home losses to teams like the Knicks, Sixers and Timberwolves, are a big part of the reason that Stan Van Gundy's career-long streak of never missing the postseason is probably going to come to an end this year. The Pistons are definitely a better team than they have been in several years, and are pointed in the right direction, but they haven't been able to consistently win the games that decent teams win.
They've shown flashes -- this is the same team that won on back-to-back nights in San Antonio and Dallas and beat Houston with D.J. Augustin at point guard and Chicago with Spencer Dinwiddie. But there have been too many nights when poor teams have been able to take advantage of Detroit's lack of a killer instinct.
"We spend a lot of time playing the standings or playing the scoreboard instead of playing the game in front of us," Van Gundy said. "When we're an underdog, or when we're way behind, we play well, but if we get a lead or we're facing a team that we should beat, we lose our focus."
Van Gundy was asked if he thinks Detroit's inability to finish out close games is a product of this season's unstable roster. After all, this is a team that was running its crunch-time office through Josh Smith, then turned to Brandon Jennings, followed by D.J. Augustin and now a combination of Reggie Jackson and Dinwiddie.
"That's not it, because the problems aren't coming on the offensive end," he said. "We're making too many defensive errors, and most of them are coming from the guys that have been here all season."
The Pistons got a chance to work on those things Monday and Tuesday, enjoying a rare chance to get in back-to-back practices, but in this next stretch, they will need to find a way to make that translate into success during games. If they don't, the streak of seasons without a playoff spot is going to extend by at least one more.
