All games might be equal, but some are more equal than others. The last two fall under that category for the Pistons.
And we’re not even talking about surviving career nights from Isaiah Thomas and Jimmy Butler, who combined to score 81 points in Pistons wins – or that Friday’s win required the first four-overtime game in the Detroit edition of Pistons history.
It was because of the identity of the opponents, Boston and Chicago, two among the muddle of teams jammed within 41/2 games of first place. Throw out first-place Cleveland – the team everyone pegs as the Eastern Conference favorite – and you have nine teams within three games of each other fighting for seven playoff spots.
Every win counts as one in the standings, of course, but every win against an opponent from that group of 10 atop the East tags one of your competitors with a loss, as well. In addition to No. 1 Cleveland, the Pistons are jockeying for position with Indiana, Chicago, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte, Orlando, Atlanta and Boston.
So far, the Pistons have been outstanding in those tests. They’re a combined 7-2, including 2-0 against Chicago and 1-0 against Cleveland, Atlanta, Miami and Boston. They’re 1-1 against Indiana, 0-1 vs. Charlotte.
Next up for the Pistons: three more of those games. It starts with a back to back Tuesday and Wednesday at Miami and Atlanta. Following a Christmas break, the Pistons host Boston again on Saturday.
Is it too early to start paying extra attention to these battles over other games?
“Yeah, it is. But I don’t think it’s too early to start talking about what we need to do to beat good teams,” Stan Van Gundy said. “We need to play well. Looking at the standings right now is not the issue.”
But the fact the Pistons got to this point with a 16-12 record after enduring an especially grueling stretch of the schedule certainly speaks well of their playoff chances. They’ll take today off – and they’ll need it after all five starters set career highs in minutes played in Friday’s marathon, Marcus Morris topping out at 57 minutes – and get consecutive days off for the first time in a month.
“A tough, tough stretch,” Van Gundy said. “I think our guys came through it pretty well.”
The 7-2 record against their playoff competition is tempered somewhat by the fact the Pistons have played six of those games at home, going 5-1, the only loss in early November to Indiana. But their only loss in three tries on the road came to Charlotte on one of the seven back-to-back situations they’ve already experienced, the fifth when the opponent had been off the previous night. The wins came at Atlanta and Chicago.
For a little perspective on scheduling inequities so far, the team the Pistons beat Friday, Chicago, has played only two back-to-back sets to date. The Bulls get their third tonight in New York off the four-overtime marathon – nice timing, huh?
The East has twice as many teams with winning records, 10, than the West going into Saturday’s games. At some point, you would expect a little separation to show among the group of 10. But, then again, you would have expected that to happen already.
“It rarely happens that way,” Van Gundy said, admitting his surprise at the tightly bunched race with the Pistons now past the one-third point of the season. “Usually teams start to separate themselves more.”
The Pistons’ 28 games so far are matched only by Toronto and Atlanta. They’ve played four more games than both Chicago and Cleveland and three more than Indiana, Miami and Charlotte.
The Pistons have split their 28 games between The Palace and the road and that gives them an advantage on most of the field. Miami has played a whopping seven more home than road games, Chicago six more at home and Charlotte five more. Toronto has played four more road than home games so far and Cleveland and Orlando, like the Pistons, are evenly split. Indiana has played one more home than road game.
It’s going to be a wild ride and injuries or mini-slumps that wouldn’t be a big deal otherwise might be fatal this season. Van Gundy doesn’t want his team scoreboard watching, though. He wants the focus on the next game and on everything that goes into winning – the process more than the result.
“I’ve referenced this to these guys several times – Bill Walsh’s book was ‘The Score Takes Care of Itself,’ ” he said. “That’s the approach we try to take. If we play well enough, that’s what you’ve got to do.”
And the standings will take care of themselves, too.
