Yet if you had given him a big dose of sodium pentathol Oct. 26, as the NBA season opened in Toronto, and told him he'd be 10-10 through 20 games with Reggie Jackson having yet to appear … well, maybe he wouldn't have taken it.
But he sure wouldn't have been horrified by it, either.
The bottom line is this: The Pistons have not only played the most games of any team in the East (20, with only three others having played as many as 19,) they've played the East's toughest schedule according to ESPN.com's metrics, and they've done it all without their leading scorer and still managed to put themselves in playoff position – and find themselves just 11/2 games back of current No. 3 seed Chicago.
There's a chance Jackson is back in uniform by the time the Pistons return to The Palace on Sunday to host Orlando. The season will be just past the quarter-pole by then, the Pistons having one more game to go on a three-game trip that's begun exquisitely – wins at Charlotte and Boston, two heavy favorites to be playoff teams, on consecutive nights.
If that's the case, Jackson will return to a team finding its stride.
“Reggie's not playing with us, but we have to continue to progress,” Tobias Harris said after Wednesday's 121-114 win over the Celtics. “There's been some up and down, but at this moment we have a chance to really try to take that next step. That's how we look at it. I think we're getting into a good rhythm. It's good to win on the road and find ways to win on the road.”
The Pistons took a 1-8 road record with them when they left for Charlotte on Monday. Now they've won four of five games in the teeth of a scheduling stretch Van Gundy called “brutal” when it began.
Before the win at Charlotte, Van Gundy said he felt the game-heavy schedule had contributed to his team's shooting woes – the Pistons rank last in the league in 3-point attempts and 3-point makes and are still only tied for 22nd in accuracy despite going 21 for 48 in the wins over Charlotte and Boston.
“We'll have 21 (games) by the end of this trip, more than anybody in the league, so there's a little bit of fatigue coming in,” Van Gundy said. “I also think, from an offensive standpoint, a lot less practice time. It just goes to reason, if you've played the most, you've practiced the least. You'd rather have the schedule reversed because as the year goes on, you're not practicing as much, anyway. We're still at the point – I think every coach would tell you – you're still firming things up. You still want practice and we're not getting chances.”
So they've had to figure things out on the fly. But figuring them out they are.
“It's not bad,” said Jackson's stand-in, Ish Smith, of the Pistons' current standing. “We've got so much more to get better at. We're a really good home team. And at home, defensively, we're really good. Then on the road these last two games, we're pretty good. We've got to back it up against Atlanta, but so far, so good. We can get so much better, but it's a good start.”
Van Gundy doesn't give his team any leash for excuse making, but he's also a realist. And he wonders how the teams above the Pistons in the standings might have fared over the first month-plus without their leading scorer for every game – Charlotte and Kemba Walker, Boston and Isaiah Thomas, Oklahoma City and Russell Westbrook.
“You don't lose your leading scorer for at least 21 games and think that there's going to be no effect whatsoever,” he said. “I would think we'll get better, at least eventually. Maybe not immediately when he comes back, because who knows what he's going to be like. But I would think eventually we'll get better when he comes back.”
The Pistons played break-even basketball in the face of a hectic schedule stuffed with quality opponents over the season's first 36 days. They're on the verge of getting better. It's going to be a fun ride to see where this last season at The Palace takes them.
