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Three years ago, heck, even three weeks ago, such a game would have tumbled out of control quickly.
Facing a 14-point deficit in the first half, on the road against one of the league's top teams, the Pistons of days past would have very simply thrown in the towel. Let 14 climb to 20, 20 to 35, and by 9:15 pm, viewers across metro Detroit would have been grabbing for the remote in search of a less aggravating form of entertainment.
But the team we wake up to today, the Post-Josh Smith Pistons, don’t know what it means to stop playing hard. They take double-digit leads and sink their teeth into them until blood is drawn.
At the end of the night, the Pistons had another superb road win, taking out the 25-11 Toronto Raptors in one of the league’s most challenging places to come away with a victory (the Raps entered the game 15-4 at home).
Victorious in 9 of 10 Games
That makes nine wins in ten games for the PJS Pistons, one of only two teams in the NBA (Atlanta) that can boast such a stellar current streak.
It is almost impossible to believe that a lottery-bound team that had sunk to a 5-23 mark is now a far more respectable 14-24 and well on its way to an actual playoff berth.
For this franchise, such a feat is nothing to scoff at. Remember, it has been an eye-popping 2,088 days since the Pistons have even stepped on the court for a playoff game. For a group that had made a habit of playing 2, 3, 4 full rounds of playoffs every year, going this duration of time without a single contest is startling.
Which is why a playoff run this year would be so meaningful. It matters not whether it would result in a conference or NBA title. Simply getting there would be chicken soup for the city’s hoop soul.
And judging by the way this squad is battling, particularly Brandon Jennings and Greg Monroe, their playoff appearance would be a thousand times more enjoyable than that 2009 version.
Quick refresher. LeBron and the Cavs destroyed the Pistons in four straight. The last game was a 21-point destruction at the Palace where only a couple of the Detroiters showed up to play. In that clincher, Rip, Tayshaun, and Rasheed somehow managed to play a combined 99 minutes while contributing a total of three baskets.
So the 2015 Pistons don’t have to do a whole lot to eclipse that last playoff journey.
Jennings Is On Fire
Out of all the Pistons that have benefited from the axing of Josh Smith, it’s Jennings that has flourished the most. It’s not an exaggeration to say that in the ten games since, he has been one of the top two or three point guards in the entire league.
He lit up the Raptors last night for 34. Found time to dish out 10 assists, too.
He bombed the Kings for 35 last week, and the Knicks for 29 the game before that.
And suddenly he’s also taking care of the ball like never before. It’s one turnover for the whole game, two at the most. The guy that epitomized laziness in a five-turnover, 2-for-10 effort against the league’s worst team last month (76ers) has done a full 180.
You take a guy with his unquestioned ability to get into the lane, make floaters, heat up from beyond the arc, and blend it with a supreme confidence that all these shots WILL go in -- that’s a recipe for a truly dangerous player capable of singlehandedly winning a game on any night. Stan Van Gundy says it's the best basketball he's seen Jennings play during the guard's entire six-year career.
The Moose Is Loose
The reemergence of Greg Monroe has been similarly inspiring.
We can all agree now it was ridiculous that Monroe was relegated to the bench earlier in the year in favor of Smith. Moose had been one of the only steady performers these last handful of years, and to see him not part of the starting five, playing just 20-25 minutes a night, was both strange and disheartening.
It was one of Van Gundy’s few missteps, but to his credit, he corrected things. Smith was sent packing, Moose was popped back into his familiar starting spot, and now he’s dominating the paint on a nightly basis, playing the 35 or so minutes he's rightfully earned.
The reason that a Pistons playoff berth seems more like an eventuality instead of an unknown is because of the "every night a new hero" routine the club has perfected over these last few weeks.
This isn’t a one-man show with the clutch shots coming from the same place every night.
D.J. Augustin took over the fourth quarter in San Antonio. Jodie Meeks throttled the Magic with 34. Luigi Datome’s hair-bun has been perfectly coiffed for seven games in a row. Last night, it was Jonas Jerebko with two cold-blooded jumpers and a key assist on what wound up being the game-winning bucket.
Jerebko is getting consistent burn for the first time in a long time, and he’s come into his own of late. As Van Gundy’s first big man off the bench, the 27-year-old forward is thriving in the role. A free agent following this season, it’s looking more and more like a priority that the Pistons find a way to bring JJ back. It probably took longer than Pistons' brass had hoped, but it seems the Swede is finally finding his foothold in the league.
Playoff Hoops In Detroit?
The Pistons wake up today tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference. Not exactly a fact you go out and plaster on billboards outside the Palace.
But look closely and you see they are a scant two games behind Brooklyn for the eight-spot. And only 2.5 out of 7th.
Another few wins in a row, which is a strong likelihood given the upcoming schedule, and it’s time to start eyeing Milwaukee and that fifth seed.
If you would have predicted such a resurgence after that most disturbing start to the season, you’d have been institutionalized. And rightfully so.
Now, the Pistons are not only a threat to make the playoffs, but to make some serious noise once they get there.
It’s been an eternity since you last hosted your buddies for a Pistons’ playoff get-together. Over two-thousand days, in fact.
But it might finally be time to dust off that plastic basketball you own that doubles as a chip-and-dip holder. Time to pre-order that six-foot-sub nobody really enjoys but is too afraid to admit.
Brandon Jennings has this team on his back, Greg Monroe is playing like a man possessed, and the maestro Van Gundy is hitting all the right notes.
This team was 5 and 23. They lost 13 straight games.
Now they are the NBA’s hottest team.
The middle of April can’t get here soon enough.
