Detroit — There’s still more work to do on the last day of the regular season. Even with the Pistons’ comeback win over the depleted Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night, they still haven’t clinched a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons (40-41) can make their first postseason since 2016 with a win over the Knicks on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden or with a loss by the Charlotte Hornets, who host the Orlando Magic. That would get the Pistons the eighth seed, with a first-round playoff series against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, beginning this weekend. The Pistons also could earn the No. 7 seed but need all three pieces of a specific scenario to happen: 1. A win over the Knicks 2. A Nets win over the Heat 3. A Hornets win over the Magic If all three occur, the Pistons would move into a tie with the Magic at 41-41, but the Pistons have the head-to-head tiebreaker and would get seventh place, facing the second-seeded Toronto Raptors in the playoffs. If the Pistons lose and the Hornets win, the Pistons would miss the playoffs altogether, because the Hornets have the head-to-head tiebreaker, having won the season series. If the Pistons and Hornets both lose, the Pistons would be in as the No. 8 seed. The Pistons also would remain in eighth in a three-team tiebreaker. Rod.Beard@detroitnews.com Twitter: @detnewsRodBeard<doc-sep>NEW YORK — Wayne Ellington wanted to make sure the record was correct. Teammate Langston Galloway, dressing nearby in the Detroit Pistons locker room late Tuesday night, served as the witness. Ellington, who stands 6 feet 4, claimed the power forward spot in the lineup that, if it didn't necessarily save the season, certainly sent a franchise desperately seeking relevance into the playoffs on an upbeat note. “I was at the four-spot,” Ellington said. Galloway, who stands 6-3, said, “I was the 3,” claiming the small forward position. Both men are shooting guards normally, but you know the saying: Desperate times call for desperate measures. Earlier that night, the Pistons had fallen behind a G-League team wearing Memphis Grizzlies uniforms by 22 points on the way to a 19-point halftime deficit. A playoff berth was on the line and the Pistons were playing tight, choking away the spoken goal since the first days of training camp under first-year coach Dwane Casey. The Little Caesars Arena crowd booed at every timeout, with Pistons owner Tom Gores seated courtside. Things looked bleak — especially with All-Star Blake Griffin hobbled with a sore left knee. With the season slipping away, Casey turned to a seldom-used lineup to rescue the season. The Pistons roared to a 100-93 victory to firmly reassert their playoff destiny, which came to fruition Wednesday night when they romped over the Knicks in the regular-season finale. The good vibes are flowing despite the next challenge: A playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks (60-22), the best team in the league. “We’re just happy to have our first step for our organization,” Casey said. “We’re still in the growth process. One thing I talked to Mr. Gores and the committee about when I interviewed for the job — I’ve been through the rebuilding stuff. And we’re ahead of the curve. We’re building something special. This is the first step for us — to get into the playoffs.” More:What's the status of Blake Griffin entering the playoffs? 2019 NBA playoffs:Postseason schedule, results for every game Flipping the script The Grizzlies were missing eight players, but you wouldn’t know it by the way they dominated the Pistons. Instead of standouts Mike Conley and Jonas Valanciunas doing the damage, unknowns Jevon Carter and Tyler Dorsey were putting in work. The deficit grew, and the Grizzlies led by 14 late in the first quarter. It was 19 early in the second. A Dorsey 3-pointer gave the Grizzlies a 50-28 lead with 4:21 left in the first half. The Pistons were able to narrow the deficit to 57-38 by halftime, but the last time the franchise was able to overcome such a significant deficit — 1989 — Isiah Thomas was running the point. What was said at halftime? “We’re going to keep that in the family,” Casey said with a grin. Ellington said that while the message may have been delivered in a loud tone, the marching orders were simple. “Relax, but go harder,” Ellington said. “We were playing anxious. We wanted to win and knew what was at stake. We were going a little too crazy, the moment was a little big and we were pushing a little bit.” The Pistons started their defensive stand in the third quarter, holding the Grizzlies to 22 points in cutting the deficit to 79-64 going into the fourth quarter. But offense was needed. Casey started the fourth quarter with a lineup of Galloway, Ellington, Luke Kennard, Ish Smith and Andre Drummond — a four-guard grouping. It was the first time Casey used the lineup this season with Ellington joining the team shortly after the Feb. 7 trade deadline. “I was looking for something that might work, and it did,” Casey said. “There’s no mystery, magic wand. It’s called hard play and those guys that were in there scrapped. … I thought the energy that group brought changed the game.” The lineup featured three shooters in Galloway, Ellington and Kennard. The extra spacing creating driving lanes for Smith, who scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter. Kennard made three 3-pointers and although Ellington was 0-for-7 from 3-point range, his presence behind the 3-point arc is threatening. “It’s not just about shooting,” Ellington said. “You have to respect shooters. Guys have to guard you, guys have to stay close, so it opens up other stuff on the floor. Passing lanes, driving lanes, rolling lanes for the bigs. That’s part of having that reputation. “We had a lot of guys that could really spread the floor, which causes a lot of confusion. Who do you guard? Who do you take away? Who do you stick with on the perimeter? It’s hard to guard a lineup like that.” A smaller lineup could yield offensive rebounds, but the reward was worth the risk. A Kennard 3-pointer cut the deficit to 10. A Galloway 3-pointer cut the deficit to three. A Smith 19-footer gave the Pistons an 85-83 lead with 6:02 remaining. Two Drummond free throws with 2:33 remaining gave the Pistons a lead they would never relinquish. Casey used rookie Bruce Brown and Glenn Robinson III as defensive substitutions at times during the fourth, but the bulk of the work came from the five players who turned the tide. The Pistons were destined for the postseason. Finishing the job The next night, the Knicks — who would finish with just 17 wins, tied for the worst record in franchise history — were helpless. The Pistons' lead was 14 after the first quarter and Kennard finished the job in the second quarter with 19 of his 27 points in the second quarter. The lineup shuffle appeared to awaken Kennard, who was slumping before the final two games. “Wayne is always telling me to shoot the ball and be aggressive,” Kennard said. “He continues to tell me that — even when I struggled (Tuesday) in the first half. He came up to me and told me to continue to keep being aggressive, keep being aggressive. “I thought about it a little bit.<doc-sep>article The Detroit Pistons had to win on the last day of the season to control their own destiny into the playoffs, and they did with a 115-89 victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Reggie Jackson had 21 and 7 assists while Andre Drummond put up 20 and 18 boards. Luke Kennard added 27 on 4 of 8 from three in the win. "We knew what was at stake," Drummond said. "We knew they were coming in to try and ruin our season that we worked so hard for. Just tried to stick it to them early and get them out of the game." Detroit extended its lead to 27 points twice in the second quarter and led 65-41 at halftime. The Pistons went up by as many as 36 points and led 92-59 after the third quarter. Detroit took a game-high 40-point lead, 109-69, on Zaza Pachulia's lay-in with 4:31 left in the game. "We're building something special, and this is the first step to get into the playoffs," Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. "Our fans are used to great basketball. We're not where we want to be, but we're not where we were." Wayne Ellington added 12 points for the Pistons, who hadn't made the playoffs since the 2015-16 season, the last time they finished over .500 (44-38). Before that, Detroit hadn't made the postseason since 2008-09. Blake Griffin missed the game with a lingering knee issue. The Pistons will now play the top seeded Milwaukee Bucks in their first playoff appearance since being swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. The Pistons were swept by the Bucks in four games during the regular season. Advertisement Follow @FOX2Sports on Twitter for all your Pistons playoff news.<doc-sep>Detroit — When Ahmed AlJorani moved from Baghdad to Farmington Hills in 2007, he found community and energy with the Pistons, as the local NBA team was riding high as perennial championship contenders. Over a decade later, a community of diehards has deteriorated and a trip downtown to Little Caesars Arena is usually devoid of the juice fans once found at The Palace of Auburn Hills. “When I moved here it was a good era. It was amazing, everybody was cheering for the Pistons,” said AlJorani before Tuesday’s home regular season finale, his blue No. 33 Jonas Jerebko jersey proof he’s suffered through lean times. “It’s always been entertaining, but the basketball wasn’t that great.” The Pistons return to the playoffs Sunday at Milwaukee for the first time in three seasons, seeking their first playoff win since 2008, when “April In The D” was stuck in your head all spring and Barack Obama was a just a candidate for the presidency. To get there, the Pistons overcame a 22-point deficit against Memphis on Tuesday, then resoundingly survived a near do-or-die game Wednesday in New York to finish a perfectly average 41-41 and squeeze into the playoffs. Was it a clutch week to fulfill a preliminary promise laid out by first-year head coach Dwane Casey in his charge of resuscitating a once-proud franchise? Or, a playoff berth tainted by a weak Eastern Conference, a token setup for a four-game beatdown from the Bucks? Maybe a little of both, and it depends on who you talk to. Whether momentous or mirage, NBA fandom has undergone a cultural shift since Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups owned the East. The old franchise arc of incremental improvements and culture corrections are no longer absolute signs a team is headed in the right direction. Tanking, winning by losing and boosting your draft status, is the preferred path for many, especially younger fans. These days, the Detroit fan base is split. Even Wednesday morning, with a win that night clinching a playoff spot, an informal Twitter poll by the “Jamie and Stoney” radio show on 97.1 The Ticket showed 36 percent of nearly 2,000 voters preferring the Pistons lose. “There’s a lot of fans that want to see the playoffs, it’s been forever since they’ve seen the playoffs, why wouldn’t you want to see the playoffs, right? It’s the spirit of sports,” said Jeff Riger, a reporter and host on The Ticket. “There are other fans who absolutely don’t want to see the playoffs because of a couple reasons: A, They’re mad that they didn’t decide to tank, or B, they believe this will be a message that they need to blow it up.” Transcendent superstars like Kevin Durant and LeBron James are the only ones left standing these days, they argue, and the days of the uniquely selfless collection of spare parts, like the last Pistons championship era, are over. The debate, which hits a crescendo every year around February’s trade deadline, is about the only passion topic for callers about the Pistons, Riger said. “I think fans are resigned to the fact that it’s not going to work,” Riger said. “I think there’s a lot of anger.” The Pistons have finished over .500 once in 11 years, losing many casual fans. Despite LCA being only in year two, the Pistons are 24th of 30 NBA teams in attendance, averaging 16.486 fans, according to ESPN.com — 78.5 percent capacity, last in the league. While the Red Wings and Tigers have dutifully submitted to painful rebuilds, owner Tom Gores and the front office have pushed forward, believing an All-NBA player like Blake Griffin and All-Star in Andre Drummond can be centerpieces for a meaningful ascent. Drummond, in his seventh year but only 25, has been around for a string of disappointments but has a strong faction of allies among the fan base. Joe Sinke of Grand Rapids, known as @joe_truck on Twitter, has been a driver of the Drummond bandwagon in online circles. “He’s like a cheat code,” Sinke said, citing his rebounding prowess. “It just upsets me when people so badly want to hate on somebody or dislike somebody, that they can’t even appreciate them.” For years, Sinke has wore his Pistons fandom on his sleeve, writing previews and recaps on nearly every game on Reddit and other blogs, interacting daily with fans on Twitter, and hosting a regular podcast called Hashtag Pistons with blogger Ku Khahil of Clinton Township. Sinke, a Grand Rapids Community College student, will soon also be wearing his fandom on his back. Detroit Bad Boys, a website covering the team as part of the SB Nation network, recently conducted March Madness style bracket of #PistonsTwitter members to find a “champion.” Sinke unleashed his Reddit readers on the polls, unearthed years-old bad “takes” from opponents, and even combed an underbelly of political Twitter trolls to assist. He thus admits his title is tainted but plans to make good on a campaign promise to get “2019 Pistons Twitter Champion” tattooed on his back. Sinke, 24, has an August appointment booked with Lansing artist Mike Riina — who Sinke has never met but has become friends online with on #PistonsTwitter. Sinke said he plans to drive across the state for a game next week, meeting with a fellow group of online diehards who found a community keeping the Pistons faith. “The Pistons don’t realistically stand much of a chance,” Sinke said. “But screw it, it’s fun to make the playoffs. It’s more fun than tanking. So yeah, I’m happy about it.” Matt Schoch is a freelance writer. Pistons vs. Bucks Game 1: Pistons at Bucks, Sunday, 7 p.m. (FSD Plus, 97.1 FM) Game 2: Pistons at Bucks, Wednesday, 8 p.m. (FSD, 950 AM) Game 3: Bucks at Pistons, April 20, 8 p.m. (FSD, 97.1 FM) Game 4: Bucks at Pistons, April 22, 8 p.m. (FSD, 950 AM) * Game 5: Pistons at Bucks, April 24 * Game 6: Bucks at Pistons, April 26 * Game 7: Pistons at Bucks, April 28 * - if necessary<doc-sep>
Detroit — They can rest when they're dead. And after dancing around the funeral pyre for a good long while Tuesday night, maybe now the Pistons understand what their coach is talking about when he tells them that. Dwane Casey has tried any number of ways to explain what the stakes are here. But with the playoffs beckoning these last few weeks, his team kept buckling. Tuesday, the Pistons did it again and very nearly sent their season up in smoke. Facing a comically depleted Memphis Grizzlies squad that’s busy counting ping-pong balls ahead of the NBA draft lottery, the Pistons had to rally from a 22-point second-half deficit to keep control of their own postseason fate. It was the largest comeback of the season for the Pistons, who rallied from 21 down to beat Chicago a month ago and erased a 19-point deficit to beat Toronto earlier this season. It was also their most frantic and exhausting, with their best player, Blake Griffin, seated on the bench with a towel over his head and their owner, Tom Gores, sitting courtside with clenched fists for the regular-season home finale. Casey used only six players in the fourth quarter as the Pistons outscored the Grizzlies, 36-14, and half of them weren’t his starters. “We got how many months this summer to rest? Now’s not the time,” Casey explained afterward, when someone noted the season now hinges on a dog-tired team playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road tonight in New York. He smiled, then added, “What’s the old saying? You don’t get tired till that bear that’s chasing you gets tired? That’s what we say in Kentucky: You don’t stop running until the bear stops running.” That he was able to smile, or even laugh, seemed remarkable given the long faces that headed to the Pistons’ locker room at halftime, however. “Unbelievable” was the word Casey used to describe his team’s dismal start Tuesday. Or at least that’s the one he used in front of the cameras afterward. Whatever was said in the locker room with the Pistons trailing by 19 at the half — “We’re gonna keep that in the family,” the coach said — it’s a safe bet there was some harsher language used. “I don’t know if it was playoff jitters, tightness, pressure of the moment,” Casey said. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t us.” But it was, though, and it still might be. The Pistons boarded their flight to New York late Tuesday night still unsure of their destination this season. Charlotte’s win in Cleveland on Tuesday meant the Pistons need a win over the last-place Knicks at Madison Square Garden — or a Hornets loss at home against Orlando — to make the playoffs. They’ll likely need to do so without much of a contribution — or maybe any — from their best player, Griffin, who was so limited by his injured left knee that he played just 3 minutes in the second half and finished with five points. “I just wasn’t able to help us tonight,” Griffin said, “and we’ll just take it day-by-day.” This day nearly turned into a nightmare, though. The Grizzlies’ starting lineup for Game 81 looked more like a G-League offering: Delon Wright, Justin Holiday, Bruno Cabocio and two guys named Tyler. The most recognizable name in a Memphis uniform Tuesday might’ve been Chandler Parsons. And yet Casey was adamant in his pregame media session that the Pistons couldn’t — and wouldn’t — think that way. “We’ve got to treat it like they’re a top team in the league,” he said. “We can’t approach it any different. We can’t look across and say, ‘Well, who is this?’” No, but the fans sure could. And some did, I’m guessing, as they watched the Grizzlies shoot nearly 74 percent from the field in the first quarter, building a double-digit lead on the Pistons. It only got worse from there, just as it had Sunday when Casey’s team spotted Charlotte a 23-point lead with a horrendous second-quarter effort. And with the home team looking rather lifeless as halftime approached, the boos rained down from the crowd at Little Caesars Arena. Audience discord “I heard 'em booing,” Casey said. “And I understand it. We deserved it. We deserved it the way we played in the first half. We deserved it. I deserved it. Everybody deserved it.