Detroit, Indy evade disaster in the ‘race’ for the East playoffs
It seems that at this point, if you put in a small down payment and some form of tradeable asset (anyone have a Gregg Jeffries rookie card?) you could have yourself one of the final two spots in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. No team seems to want it.
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While the rest of the sporting world was off watching the NCAA Final Four, the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls did their best to eliminate themselves from playoff contention on Saturday night. After all the non-fetti fell, the song remained the same: Detroit still owns the East’s seventh seed, Indiana the eighth, and Chicago is a stone’s throw away at two games behind Indiana.
The Bulls would be advised not to hurl that stone, lest it suffer yet another injury. Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson sat out Saturday’s loss to Detroit, while a clearly gimpy Pau Gasol and Jimmy Butler worked through knee injuries in the 94-90 loss. Butler notched his first career triple-double, adding 28 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists, three steals and two blocks to the ledger while Gasol contributed 16 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks, but it wasn’t enough as Detroit held on for a 94-90 win.
The Pistons are to be credited for sealing the deal on the road (in the face of an admittedly listless Chicago home crowd), but coach Stan Van Gundy’s team didn’t make life easy on themselves. All-Star center Andre Drummond sat for most of the second half as Chicago went to a Hack-a-Drummond strategy, as the big man missed nine of ten free throws.
The close win, however, gives Detroit both the two and a half game lead over Chicago, the half-game lead over Indiana, and the best shot at both the seventh seed and a shot at missing the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs. The team also earned a tiebreaker advantage over the Bulls should things come down to a draw on the final night of the NBA’s season on April 13.
A time zone away in Philadelphia, the struggling Indiana Pacers seemed well on their way toward handing the 76ers their 68th loss of the season in the third quarter. The Indy bench played superb ball in the first three quarters, establishing an 18-point lead prior to an unexpected Sixer comeback. Philly, looking to avoid (we think) ending the season tied with the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers for the worst full-regular season record in NBA history, made a charge behind rookie Jerami Grant that actually gave the team a fourth quarter lead. The Pacers genuinely look shook in the face of the unexpected Philly advance.
Led by guard C.J. Miles, however, the Pacers roared back. He scored a team-leading 25 points off of the Indiana bench as Philly’s designed brand of Keystone Cop play (Grant had five turnovers in the contest) caught up to them. The Pacers peeled off a 41-point quarter in the fourth to avoid the ignominy that, at certain points in the night, had them handing a nine-win team their second conquest since the All-Star break. To say little of Indiana moving into a tie with the Bulls. The Pacers prevailed at 115-102.
Luckily for the Pacers, Chicago wasn’t game to keep up appearances with the neighbors. Neither was Detroit, if we’re honest, but in spite of gaudy stat lines for the Bulls the Pistons featured an esprit du corps that Chicago couldn’t hope to match – such has been the Bulls’ season thus far. The Pacers will leave Philadelphia knocking their heads for almost blowing a game against the league’s worst team, but in this realm a win is a win.
Presuming any of these teams enjoy winning, at this point. It’s hard to tell, at times.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
