Detroit's December Schedule of DOOM!

[Kilo]

Vs Golden State
Vs Oklahoma City
@ Milwaukee
Vs Philadelphia
Vs New Orleans
@ Philadelphia
@ Charlotte
Vs Boston
Vs Milwaukee
@ Minnesota
@ Charlotte
Vs Atlanta
Vs Washington
@Indiana
@Orlando

Oh yeah, our current strength of schedule ranks second easiest so far.

[kpt]

A realistic 5-10 ouch. If we get out of the month 8-7 that would be a success. Tough month for sure

Vs Golden State L
Vs Oklahoma City L
@ Milwaukee L
Vs Philadelphia L
Vs New Orleans W
@ Philadelphia L
@ Charlotte L
Vs Boston L
Vs Milwaukee L
@ Minnesota W
@ Charlotte L
Vs Atlanta W
Vs Washington W
@Indiana L
@Orlando W

[Shady_]

[DetroitPistons]

Yeah it's rough but looking at it closer I think if we play really well we can come out over .500. The last 6 games are all winnable and against middle of the road teams or bad teams aside from IND but I think IND is overrated and definitely doesn't scare me very much. But in addition to that, BOS isn't playing too well and they look very beatable at the moment. CHA and NOP are both mediocre too. PHI also not looked great defensively and lost a lot of shooting and are also trying to acclimate Butler still so who knows, we could pull one of those games out too. MIL scares me the most. They could definitely make the finals this year imo. Also, 8 of those games are at home so there are some reasons to have hope for this upcoming trip. We will see though.

[vege]

We can win somewhere between 5 and 10 of those games. It's not easy but there are some winnable games. There are 8 games at home, also Orlando, Indiana, Charlotte and Minesotta are not great teams, they're the same level as us, we could steal a few of those games and lose some at home.

GSW b2b, Philly at Philly, Milwaukee are games I can't see us winning.

[Snakebites]

A run like this was inevitable. We’ve already played a lot of the worst teams, some more than once. It was going to balance out eventually.

Will be interesting to see where the team is after that. If we can close out December with a .500 record it bodes well for our playoff chances.

A win Friday puts us 5 over .500 heading into our brutal month if we get it. Hopefully we can have a 5-10 December and enter 2019 as a .500 team. I’ll feel decently about playoff hopes then. Anything more than that is gravy.

[Wallace_Wallace]

A realistic 5-10 ouch. If we get out of the month 8-7 that would be a success. Tough month for sure

Vs Golden State L
Vs Oklahoma City L
@ Milwaukee L
Vs Philadelphia L
Vs New Orleans W
@ Philadelphia L
@ Charlotte L
Vs Boston L
Vs Milwaukee L
@ Minnesota W
@ Charlotte L
Vs Atlanta W
Vs Washington W
@Indiana L
@Orlando W

Home games the Pistons have a chance against OKC and GSW, especially with their inconsistencies and lack luster effort the Warriors have displayed this season. Hopefully we can win one of those. I also see us being able to beat Philli, Boston and Charlotte. However, Wolves on the road are a little hard.

So yes....8-7 we hope!!

[Kilo]

Just our luck - Steph Curry will make his return against us.

[detroitKG]

Kilo are you psychic? LOL

Read on Twitter

[_Und3r][D4wg_]

While our relatively weak schedule undeniably flatters our current record, it has also allowed the team to make incremental progress and slowly gain confidence that, regardless of the opponent, we can compete and have a chance to win. It's fair to say that compared to the team that started the season at 5-0, we're now in better shape to tackle this oncoming December gauntlet.

As wanting as the Pistons' form had been, we still found a way to close out the Sixers, Raptors, & Rockets. Even in our losses, save for a couple, most were close ones where the team had its chances down to the closing minutes.

We might get blown out in a couple or so games, but I believe that on most nights, the team will rise to the level of this next wave of stronger competition. Got my fingers crossed that we'll be barging into 2019 at .500 or better.

[Snakebites]

Kilo are you psychic? LOL

Read on Twitter

I thought I heard about it earlier in the day yesterday.

[MotownMadness]

That’s brutal

[bstein14]

This stretch from Milwaukee to Milwaukee is going to be the most telling of how we stack up in the east...
@ Milwaukee
Vs Philadelphia
Vs New Orleans
@ Philadelphia
@ Charlotte
Vs Boston
Vs Milwaukee
We get the #2 Bucks seed twice, the #3 seed Sixers twice and two teams right behind us in the standings in Boston and Charlotte. This is the most important stretch of this early season for us.

[MotownMadness]

This stretch from Milwaukee to Milwaukee is going to be the most telling of how we stack up in the east...
@ Milwaukee
Vs Philadelphia
Vs New Orleans
@ Philadelphia
@ Charlotte
Vs Boston
Vs Milwaukee
We get the #2 Bucks seed twice, the #3 seed Sixers twice and two teams right behind us in the standings in Boston and Charlotte. This is the most important stretch of this early season for us.

At least we get home court advantage against the majority of it

[mattao313]

Meh it is what it is. Just a test to see if we have a good team here.

[Snakebites]

The schedule doesn't let up in the first half of January either.

@Milwaukee
@Memphis
Utah
San Antonio
@Lakers
@Sacramento
@Clippers
@Utah

Those are all potential losses. Welp. Either we battle through it or we don't. If you're wondering why the projections still have us finishing below .500 despite the start, I think we're really seeing why now. Hopefully we can buck expectations (no pun intended, since we face the Greek freak a lot in the next month and a half).

[hoophabit]

Yeah, you have to play all the teams in the league and see how it works out. I just take them one game at a time and try to enjoy it.

[ElectricMayhem]

I think the Pistons are a .500 team who has just had an insanely easy schedule thus far. We were dead last in strength of schedule when I looked last week. And then we played the Knicks, Suns, and Bulls.

[Snakebites]

I think the Pistons are a .500 team who has just had an insanely easy schedule thus far. We were dead last in strength of schedule when I looked last week. And then we played the Knicks, Suns, and Bulls.

We have a .632 win percentage right now. That's a 52 win pace.

I don't think anyone thinks we're that good. I'd be thrilled if by mid January we were .500. That would convince me that this team is headed to the playoffs.

[ElectricMayhem]

I think the Pistons are a .500 team who has just had an insanely easy schedule thus far. We were dead last in strength of schedule when I looked last week. And then we played the Knicks, Suns, and Bulls.

We have a .632 win percentage right now. That's a 52 win pace.

I don't think anyone thinks we're that good. I'd be thrilled if by mid January we were .500. That would convince me that this team is headed to the playoffs.

After our first 8 or so games, I thought we were definitely a sub-.500 team, but we've gone out and actually beaten all the lousy teams. That's something we didn't consistently do with SVG. My gut feeling is that Casey is better at making sure we don't have letdown games. That's why Toronto, despite not being that way more talented than the other teams, found their way to the top seed. It's a very important skill for a team fighting to make the playoffs. Or painful for those wanting to tank (although if we're going to be middling, might as well get some playoff action).