The last time the Pistons had consecutive days off between games was three weeks ago. They’d played 11 games over 18 days by the time they wrapped up Saturday’s loss to Atlanta, going 7-4 to strengthen their bid for a playoff berth.
Now they get eight games oddly spread out over the season’s final 17 games. During that time, the Pistons will have three back-to-back sets, more than anybody else, but four instances of multiple days off including one such interlude with three consecutive off days.
In the abstract, it leaves Stan Van Gundy a little exasperated. In the moment, it’s his task to figure out how to make that schedule work to his team’s advantage.
“Quite honestly, we’ve been better when we’ve been playing a lot than we have when we’ve hit these stretches of time off,” Van Gundy said after a Monday practice that followed a day of badly needed rest for the Pistons. “I know Atlanta took it to us the other night, but we had won five in a row before that. We’ve been in a pretty good rhythm. It’s not really the time you were looking for days of, but you don’t have a choice. You play the schedule the way it is and you deal with it.”
To maintain that rhythm as best he could, Van Gundy incorporated some full-court, five-on-five action into Monday’s practice – something he generally avoids following the All-Star break. It also factored into the decision to re-sign D-League point guard Lorenzo Brown to a second 10-day contract – an extra body to throw into the mix for the practice days the Pistons will be afforded by the gaps in their upcoming schedule.
“We don’t want to lose the rhythm of playing, so we played today in practice,” Van Gundy said. “Practices will have to involve a little bit more intensity, but you’ve got to balance that, too. It’s a lot easier when you’re playing games to decide what to do and not do than it is in these stretches.”
The Pistons sit in the No. 8 playoff slot going into Monday night’s games, one-half game behind Indiana, two games ahead of Chicago and 21/2 games up on Washington. While the Pistons have three back-to-back sets among their final eight games, the three others all have two back to backs yet all have more games remaining – nine games each for Indiana and Washington and 10 for Chicago.
Marcus Morris is taking the glass-half-full approach to the schedule quirks, looking forward to the restorative promise of multiple days off between games.
“It’s great for me. It’s a time to rest my legs,” said Morris, who spent most of the season in the top six in the league in minutes played and still ranks 12th. “Just be able to sit back and think a little bit, not have a game every day. For the whole team, I think it’s going to be great for us to have that kind of rest.”
Morris could feel the effects of 11 games in 18 days during Saturday’s Atlanta visit, he said.
“No excuses, but I started to feel a little fatigue. My legs got heavy,” he said. “It is what it is. (Atlanta) played a back to back, other guys are playing as many minutes. Not an excuse. But I felt a little heavy.”
Reggie Jackson has been bothered by a right thumb injury since early February and continues to play with it heavily taped. He was battered from head to toe around the All-Star break, but says he’s feeling about as well as he could hope to feel given the time of year.
“I let my coach worry about that – and the training staff,” he said of managing the schedule over the final eight games. “Just got to go play and try to get treatment when you can. Twenty-five – my body hopefully will still hold up, be good to me. Just continue to mentally push through it.”
The Pistons wrap up their nine-game home stand, taking a 5-2 record into the week, with Oklahoma City on Tuesday and Dallas on Friday. Then they’ll hop on Roundball One for a potentially pivotal game Saturday at Chicago, where the Bulls will be resting on a Friday night off.
“The NBA rhythm for players, for the most part, is to play every other day with some back to backs in there,” Van Gundy said. “Two, three days off, you don’t get it that much. And now we get it at the end of the year but with back to backs. That’s where everybody sort of questions the NBA schedule. Why 20 back to backs for us and then we’ve got two days off, two days off and then two days off again and then three days off? Why can’t we eliminate some of the back to backs? I don’t know the answer to that.”
And he’s not going to spend any time looking for one right now, not with the Pistons in their first playoff race in seven years.
