The Pistons are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and just the second time in the last 10 years.
Their reward? A first-round collision with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks.
How will the Pistons attempt to slow that train down?
"Man, it’s very tough," assistant general manager Malik Rose told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket. "They’re a very good team with a lot of really good players. I tip my cap to not only their coaching staff, but their front office for the job they’ve done all season. And right now, I’m glad I don’t have to have the answers to that. That’s a Coach Casey question."
The Pistons went 0-4 against the Bucks this season. They'll enter the series with a compromised Blake Griffin, who's been hindered of late with a knee injury. It will take a masterful coaching job on the part of Dwane Casey and his staff just to keep things close.
Rose knows it.
"They’ve got a tall task right now. There’s a reason (Milwaukee's) No. 1 and we’re No. 8. But as far as where we stand on our overall goals and what we want to accomplish, we’ve been getting better all season. That’s very hard to do in the NBA. And when playoff season rolls around, I don’t think there will be any change in that. We’re going to get better no matter what.
"Hopefully we can win a few games and maybe steal the series. But I do go into the series knowing at the end of it we’re going to be a better team. The coaching staff has proved that all season."
Few outsiders, if any, are giving the Pistons a chance. Rose said the team will embrace its role as the underdog.
"That’s kind of how our mindset here in Detroit started. We know we’re going to be the underdog most nights, not just the playoffs. That’s when we want to be 15-strong, because everyone out there is going to pick against us. Everyone out there is going to think we’re not going to succeed," said Rose. "The only guys that really believe in us, and it’s been this way the whole season, are the 15 guys in that locker room.
"Those guys work with Dre every day. It’s like part of his daily routine -- he gets up, he brushes his teeth, he washes his face, he gets with Grgurich and Sween. Those guys have really worked on his game, and more than his game it’s his mindset and his approach to the game. I think that’s really what you’re referring to, are the fruits of that labor."
"There’s been moments this year where Dre not only blocks shots and covers up the rim for us, but he’s a freakish athlete because he’s 6’11, 280 and he moves his feet. He can guard some guards in most situations. And that really gives Coach Casey and Sweeney, our defensive coordinator, an added weapon on defense."