The Boston Celtics have a real shot to make the NBA Finals this season if they remain healthy, but the Eastern Conference, while weakened, isn’t without sturdy competition at the top.
The East’s top dog right now? The 30-10 Detroit Pistons, led by All-Star starter Cade Cunningham, whom the Celtics will do battle with on Monday night in Detroit.
The Pistons are currently the only team that stands between the Celtics and the No. 1 seed in the conference, but Detroit has been rock-solid all season long, and they might get even better at the trade deadline.
On Monday, Bleacher Report’s NBA writer Andy Bailey predicted that the Pistons will get aggressive at the deadline and add a big-time scorer to their already-impressive core.
“The Detroit Pistons are first in the East, but it’d still be hard to pick them over more experienced teams like the New York Knicks or Boston Celtics (assuming Jayson Tatum is back by then) in a playoff series,” Bailey wrote.
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“The typical aging curve demands a few more speed bumps before the real breakout for title contention. The Oklahoma City Thunder crushed that trend last season, but that feels like more of an exception than a new rule.”
“Still, Detroit is close,” Bailey continued. “And with one more big-time scorer in the lineup to take a little pressure off Cade Cunningham, the Pistons could skip some steps too. With plenty of movable salaries and draft picks, they could realistically chase options like Lauri Markkanen or Michael Porter Jr. to be that scorer. Before February, they’ll pull off just that kind of move.”
Markkanen or Porter on the Pistons wouldn’t bode well at all for a Celtics team that is already facing a size deficit whenever they play Detroit.
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Featured image via Rick Osentoski/Imagn Images
