Detroit Pistons Locked into Eighth Seed After Loss to Miami Heat

The Detroit Pistons’ pursuit of something other than the last seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs is over after tonight’s loss to the Miami Heat.

Detroit Pistons head coach hasn’t been interested in giving his opinion on whether he’d rather face the Cleveland Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors in the first round of the playoffs.

Instead, he offered a general philosophy that it is always best to be as high a seed as possible and said that the team would pursue attaining the seventh seed instead of resting key contributors in their last two regular season games.

Aside from Reggie Jackson being a late scratch due to an abdominal strain, that’s exactly what happened tonight when the Pistons hosted the Miami Heat. Steve Blake stepped into start at point guard and Spencer Dinwiddie got meaningful minutes but it was otherwise a regular rotation.

But it wasn’t enough as the Heat, not the Pistons, were the team to break free from the tightly contested game to get the win.

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The loss, combined with the Indiana Pacers win over the New York Knicks tonight, means the Pistons pursuit of the seventh seed is over as they are locked in as the eighth seed in the East. The Pistons and Pacers entered the night tied in the standings but the Pacers move a game ahead with the tie-breaker in hand to clinch the seventh seed over the Pistons no matter what happens in each team’s regular season finale.

That means the Pistons draw the Eastern Conference regular season champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round – perhaps fitting considering the Cavaliers were the opponent the last time the Pistons made the playoffs back in 2009.

Interestingly, the Pistons and Cavs will meet tomorrow night in Cleveland to conclude the regular season before getting their playoff series underway sometime next weekend. The NBA playoff schedule should be released shortly after the conclusion of the regular season when all the matchups are set.

Next: Tigers on the move in MLB power rankings

The playoffs are scheduled to start on Saturday but it would not be a surprised to see the Pistons-Cavaliers series start on Sunday to put the top-seeded Cavs in a more prominent television slot.