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We're required to go 14-5 for the rest of the season. Here's our schedule:

March
vs Philadelphia
vs San Antonio
vs New Orleans
vs Denver
at Cleveland
at Washington
vs Phoenix
at Toronto
vs Miami
vs Cleveland

April
at Minnesota
vs New Jersey
at Miami
vs New York
at Philadelphia
vs Washington
vs Toronto
vs Minnesota
at Cleveland

That's almost a 74% winning rate, rounded up. Right now we're at 73%, so it certainly seems feasible.

San Antonio, New Orleans, Denver, Clevelandx3, Phoenix are the tough games for us. We'll have to beat all of the teams we're expected to, and steal two of those^

Can we? Maybe....

Will we? 99% no.

Does it matter? Hell no.

^^^ Second that.

I'd much rather see current seedings stay about the same (get Philly 1st round and Orlando 2nd round) than worry about 60 wins. I do want to see how we match up with Cleveland in the remaining games, just in case we have the good fortune of playing them instead of Boston. Otherwise, the remainder of the season doesn't mean much except for bench developement and tune-up potential.

Those Cleveland games will be important. We will be the toughest team on their schedule and if we want them to finish behind Orlando, then we need to step up during the regular season.

As for 60 wins, nice to have, but really doesn't mean anything.

March
vs Philadelphia W
vs San Antonio W
vs New Orleans L (or L against Spurs)
vs Denver W
at Cleveland L
at Washington W
vs Phoenix W
at Toronto L
vs Miami W
vs Cleveland W

April
at Minnesota W
vs New Jersey W
at Miami W
vs New York W
at Philadelphia W
vs Washington W
vs Toronto W
vs Minnesota W
at Cleveland L

There is a scenario with only 4 losses. If we stay motivated, we certainly could get 60.

We're pretty much guaranteed to get the 2nd seed which is great. What we need to focus on is beating Cleveland at least twice to keep them away from Orlando. So far Orlando are holding up their part of the bargain by winnin their own games!

Don't forget we'll likely be resting starters the last 2 games of the season as we have the past few years. As bad as Minny is that game isn't a given and the Cleveland game will likely mean more to them than to us.

I'll say we finish around 58-59 wins, which is still very respectable. 60 wouldn't completely shock me though, it's doable depending on how the bench progresses.

The only thing that matters is healthy players. The second most important thing is home-court over every Western conference team.

It would be nice to have home-court this year, becuase we ALL know that had we had it during the San Antonio series, we would be looking at going for our third with this crew, instead of #2. I would like at least 1time out of three to be at our pad.

Dont need home-court in the East.

As long as we have a better record than everyone besides Boston... I'm good with whatever.

I don't want to see Flip riding the starters trying to get "60" and then seeing one of them go down with injury in the last game of the season *knocks on wood*.

Let's take care of getting ready for the playoffs and not worry about anything cosmetic.

Liqourish wrote:As long as we have a better record than everyone besides Boston... I'm good with whatever.

I don't want to see Flip riding the starters trying to get "60" and then seeing one of them go down with injury in the last game of the season *knocks on wood*.

Let's take care of getting ready for the playoffs and not worry about anything cosmetic.

Agreed.

As long as we don't go into tank mode in april, yeah I could see it. Just about all the difficult games are at home and april looks pretty easy.

I think people are underestimating the importance of 60 wins.

Remember, we're only, what, one game up on Los Angeles for the second best record in the NBA? Part of the reason why I think we lost to San Antonio was that we didn't have that homecourt advantage, and trying to win back-to-back on the road against a good team is very difficult. If we make it back to the finals (big if), we should hope to have homecourt against whoever comes out of the West.

Detroit lost to San Antonio for two reasons... 1. They were the better team and 2. Our bigs fouled out and Tayshaun Prince defended Tim Duncan because LB didn't develop the bench.

Teams were tied 2-2 after 4, both teams winning on their home courts.... game 5, Robert Horry hit that 3 and we lost at home. We went into San An. and won game 6 and was very close in the fourth quarter in game 7 before our frontcourt was diminished. San Antonio did what they needed to do and they won.

Detroit did not lose to the Spurs due to not having homecourt. They lost because LB liked to ride the starters and refused to develop the young guys when it could cut into the success the team had with the starters in the game. Sound familiar?

At the end of the day it's difficult to simply pin point what caused our downfall against the Spurs in the Finals. Each variable, no matter how small, has a multiplier effect that alters more of the match up than probably can be accounted for. I like to stick to the "the better team won" answer for why we lost.

That being said, I don't want home court advantage from the Conference Finals on. We play better on the road with the odds against us. Go figure...

We shouldn't win 60, it doesn't matter if we win 60, and we're probably better off if we don't win 60. Boston's going to win 62-66 games and grab the headlines, the West is going to be a massive dogfight, and the "surprise" Detroit Pistons just need to play solid ball against their R1 fodder, take care of D-Ho and Orlando by abusing their guards, somehow put together a winning series against Boston (it's going to take above average shooting), and then match up in the finals against the Spurs or perhaps Lakers (hopefully) and just play ball.

We have maybe a 20% shot at the title this year, which is a better shot than anyone but Boston, who I'd put at around 30% (60% chance to win the East, tossup in the finals). We aren't a juggernaut, but considering all the steps we've taken towards building a future this season, the results have been good. Now we just need to get hot at the right time (ECF, Finals) and not get too badly outcoached.

60 wins? We've done that already.

I hope we don't, it would be nice to do, the important thing is though to have a better record then everyone BUT Boston, then if we get to the finals we would have home court advantage. Other then that it's been pointless, in fact most of the regular season the past few years have been pointless.

Examples; Dallas, Detroit, #1 Seed's Champions: Miami, San Antonio.

It's about how you play at the time it matter's if we play like we did last year we might not even make it to the ECF. We better be focused.

Pistons have 16 games left and have to go 12-4 over the last 16 to hit 60. 12 wins is very possible at this point barring any injuries *knocks on wood* or Flip resting the starters to play the young guys (like THAT would happen ).

Pistons are 2 games up on Houston who are currently 1st in the West and 4.5 games up on the third seed in the East, Orlando. If they want homecourt in the finals, they need to stay competitive.

The game between Houston and Boston could really go either way. If Boston wins, Houston gets another 1/2 game back of Detroit but Boston gets added confidence. If Houston wins, they extended their winning streak but Boston gets another loss and comes down a notch on the ego-meter.

Detroits last 16 games

March
18 vs. Denver W
19 @ Cleveland ESPN L (back to back, on the road, Lebron, 8-5, on Nat. TV)
23 @ Washington W (could go either wat but Pistons pull out a W)
24 vs. Phoenix W (could go either way, but Chauncey dominates Nash at home)
26 @ Toronto W
27 vs. Miami W
29 vs. Cleveland W (Pistons beat Lebron at home after a L just days earlier)

April
1 @ Minnesota W
4 vs. New Jersey W
6 @ Miami ABC W (This could get pulled from TV, still a W)
8 vs. New York W
9 @ Philadelphia L (Philly is playing lights out right now, this could go either way, but I see a let down after beating up pn New York the night before on a back-to-back)
11 vs. Washington W (Pistons play pissed after losing to Philly)
13 vs. Toronto W
15 vs. Minnesota W
16 @ Cleveland L (last game of the season, seeds decided, Cleveland makes a statement)

what do i honestly think? who cares?...

have we as pistons fans NOT LEARNED yet? That Championship team was a 2 seed, 54-win team.