The Detroit Pistons are set for their first playoff game in six years. The Pistons and New York Knicks will open their best-of-seven series on Saturday. During the series, the Pistons are hoping to end an NBA-record streak that dates back to 2008.
Michigan Public sports commentator John U. Bacon joined Morning Edition host Doug Tribou to talk about that and other sports news.
NBA Playoffs
Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks
Game 1 (Best-of-seven series)
Madison Square Garden - Sat., 6:00 p.m.
Doug Tribou: The Pistons and Knicks will open their playoff series Saturday evening in New York. The Knicks come in as the third seed in the NBA's Eastern Conference. The Pistons are the sixth seed. The Pistons beat the Knicks late in the regular season. How do you like Detroit's chances in this best-of-seven series?
John U. Bacon: Well, better than you might think for a third seed versus a sixth seed. They're clearly the underdogs on paper. But they have beaten the Knicks three out of four games this regular season, including the last three in a row, and including games at Madison Square Garden. That's a team without fear. And Doug, as in life, you can't win playing scared.
So, if I'm the Knicks, I'm not too happy about drawing the Pistons. They've got a real chance.
DT: The Pistons are clearly a team hungry for more success, but I think we should take a moment to acknowledge this season. Last season, Detroit won 14 games. That's out of 82, by the way. This time around, 44 wins and a playoff berth. You rarely see that kind of improvement without a complete roster overhaul.
JUB: Well, in fact, Doug, I looked it up and you never see it. There are only five teams that have got a bigger turnaround than Detroit in the history of the NBA. But they all added somebody like [Boston Celtics legend] Larry Bird or some gigantic Hall of Famer to the roster, which makes all the difference.
The Pistons have not done that. They've added some good players, but they're role players and no one's threatening to go to the Hall of Fame, I don't think. This has been a team built, by [head coach] J.B. Bickerstaff, on defense, hustle, and team play. This is old-school stuff, and it's very impressive.
DT: The Pistons have lost 14 straight playoff games dating back to 2008. That's the longest streak of its kind in NBA history...
JUB: [Laughs] After all that pump-up, thanks, Debbie Downer, for that one.
The Pistons are in the playoffs for the first time since 2019. They haven't won a playoff game since 2008.
DT: [Laughs] I want to give our listeners an update on a story we looked at last week. You said the Red Wings would need 10 miracles in the final week or so of the regular season to make the playoffs. We have checked with the Michigan Public Statistics Department, and they did not get 10 miracles. And coincidentally, their season ended right on schedule at the end of the regular season.
JUB: [Laughs] First, once again, Doug, I cannot say this enough, kudos, hats off, to the crack Michigan Public Statistics Department. They're working all night and day. That's pretty clear. So kudos, guys.
Yeah, they didn't get any of those miracles. So the big question is what to do next year. It's Steve Yzerman's sixth year as the general manager of the team. Some people are calling for Yzerman's head. I am not. He has built a great foundation of young players who need experience. They've got a great captain in [Dylan] Larkin. They don't have a great goalie. But it'd be foolish to change direction now.
DT: Last weekend, the Western Michigan Broncos claimed their first NCAA men's college hockey title with a victory over Boston University in the final. We're seeing the results of a four-year push by Western coach Pat Ferschweiler.
JUB: We are, and look, this is like the classic four-year-effort overnight success. It may seem like out of nowhere, but this guy's been hard at work for four years, building it year by year by year.
And watch what it does to Western Michigan University. This is where sports matter a great deal. Western, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, probably 10 of the 15 state universities in Michigan are all fighting for survival. And this will give Western Michigan a big boost. You watch.
DT: And on a side note, one of the great things about the Frozen Four is the variety of teams that can break through to win. The tournament's smaller than the [NCAA] basketball tournaments, for example. And there are long-time powerhouses. BU is one of them. But in the last 15 years or so, Union, Minnesota-Duluth, Yale, Providence, Quinnipiac, the University of Massachusetts — and now Western Michigan — all won a national title for the first time in school history. That's pretty wild in that short of an amount of time.
JUB: That's pretty wild and it's pretty great. Look at football. Only the blue-blood, big-power programs win this thing. It's Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, and so on.
And you just made a glorious list here in college hockey because the teams you talked about, they don't get the all-stars out of high school. They get the 20-year-old freshmen who played some junior hockey around the country, and the 24-year-old seniors. They're not going to the NHL, but they're committed to the team and the school. It turns out those things matter a great deal. And full disclosure, Doug, I am a trustee at Michigan Tech University. Trust me, we are watching this very closely.
