A four-game road trip produced mixed results for the Detroit Pistons. But they’re still very much in the mix for a top-five seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Detroit defeated the Utah Jazz at the start of the trip on March 3 and survived a late rally by the Portland Trail Blazers at the end of it on Sunday. In between, the Pistons lost contested battles with the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors.
Now, they’ll get back-to-back home games against the rebuilding Washington Wizards on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
“We understand how to put ourselves in position (to win),” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Even the two games we lost, we had leads in the fourth quarter. We’re still a work in progress. People kind of jump the gun where we are, but we’re not a finished product yet.”
At 36-29, the Pistons are in sixth place in the conference, a place no one expected them to occupy after enduring the worst season (14-68) in franchise history.
They are within close range of the fourth-place Milwaukee Bucks and fifth-place Indiana Pacers and have distanced themselves from the pack of teams that hold play-in tournament positions.
In their latest victory on Sunday night, the Pistons nearly gave away an 18-point lead in the second half. It took free throws by Cade Cuninngham and Dennis Schroder in the final 19 seconds to close it out.
“Just that mental toughness we talk about,” Bickerstaff said. “Coming in here on a tough back-to-back where guys played heavy minutes the night before, trying to hold off a team that’s got guys who individually can get hot and get going. We knew we were going to need to get stops. I thought we did a good job where everybody involved helped to make a play late, whether it was a defensive play or offensive play. Everybody contributed and helped us win.”
Cunningham led the team in scoring throughout the trip, averaging 31.3 points and 7.3 assists a game.
“This was big for us,” he said. “We needed 2-2 because we could not afford to have a losing trip.”
Cunningham had a triple-double when Detroit defeated Washington 124-104 on Nov. 17 in the first meeting between the Eastern Conference clubs this season.
The Wizards on Tuesday will play the end of a back-to-back set. They lost at the Toronto Raptors 119-104 on Monday while shooting just 36.2 percent from the field.
Toronto outscored Washington 60-44 in the second half.
“Just didn’t come out with the same zip that we had in the first half,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. “We weren’t touching the paint as much as we would have liked. They got physical with us, and we weren’t getting the same shots. We had some open threes that we didn’t make, but they weren’t paint-touch threes and then they were getting the type of shots they wanted on the other end.”
Veterans Marcus Smart and Khris Middleton were rested and likely will be available for Tuesday’s contest.
Washington’s loss was its 50th of the season, though it has played better recently. The Wizards, who are in the midst of a seven-game road trip, are 4-3 over their last seven games.
–Field Level Media
