The Pistons didn’t win a playoff game this season. Nor last season, nor the six years before that.
In fact, their last postseason win was May 26, 2008, over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Since then, they missed the playoffs six straight years and were swept in 2009 and this year, both times by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But unlike that ’09 season, they find themselves in a good position, on the ascent, coming off a competitive series with the Cavs — even more than the Atlanta Hawks, whom Cleveland swept in the conference semifinals this year.