Right before the Detroit Pistons left town for a long road trip, they defeated the lottery-bound Chicago Bulls.
They return home to face the same division rival Saturday at the new Little Caesars Arena. The Pistons (32-40) are barely hanging on in the playoff race, trailing Milwaukee by six full games for the final postseason berth with 10 games remaining.
Detroit went 2-4 on the journey, though it played a lot better during the second half of the trip. The Pistons collected their first road victories since mid-January on back-to-back nights in Sacramento and Phoenix. On the final leg, they forced overtime against the team with the league's best record, Houston, before succumbing 100-96.