With the Pistons now mathematically locked in to the #2 spot in the East (which had been effectively decided for several weeks now), I decided to take a look at the standings and figure out exactly what they need to do to clinch home court advantage in the finals, in the event of getting past Boston in the ECF. The Pistons are one game ahead of New Orleans, which is currently #1 in the West. Detroit is 2 1/2 games ahead of both San Antonio and the Lakers, but the key there is that they're 3 ahead of both teams in the loss column (i.e. 3 fewer losses). What I think it comes down to is this: the Pistons should be able to clinch HCA in the finals by going 4-2 in their last 6 games.

First off, if they finish 4-2 down the stretch, they will have clinched home court over both L.A. and San Antonio; neither of those teams can catch the Pistons unless Detroit finishes no better than 3-3. The key point vis-a-vis New Orleans is that the Pistons swept them during the season, which is the first tie-breaker for HCA. This means that the Hornets need to make up two games in the standings in the last 6 games to get HCA over Detroit.

So if the Pistons go at least 5-1 in their last 6 games, they'll clinch HCA in the finals no matter what; they'd get HCA over New Orleans even if the Hornets finished 6-0. But given New Orleans' schedule down the stretch, I don't think they're going to finish 6-0. They play home against Utah, at Minnesota, at the Lakers, at Sacramento, home against the Clippers, and at Dallas. That's 2 at home and 4 on the road, with 1 home game against another playoff team and 2 on the road against playoff teams. Given how closely everyone is still bunched in the West, those games with two playoff teams facing each other are likely to be important all the way through the last day of the season.

The upshot is that is I think 5-1 down the stretch is the best-case scenario for New Orleans, which means that the Pistons will probably be able to clinch HCA in the finals just by going 4-2. With only 2 games left on the road for the Pistons, that seems eminently doable.

to expand upon your post when i looked at it, we also have the tie breaker with san ant, and honestly New Orleans is just to young to make the finals this year... just don't see them making it. so were up 3 games up on san and LA, whats the 2nd tie breaker with them?

either way i think a 3-3 finish probably gets us home court thru the playoffs save the boston series.

Thanks Dumars4, this team is playing good enough to beat the Celtics, so in the back of Joe & Co mind that HCA in the finals mentality has to be there. They need to play these games seriously and I like the way Flip is limiting the starters minutes just enough to still win the games. I didn't realize Dice was missing yesterday until after the game. Streak or not Flip still has to figure out away to sit down Tay for a game even if it means starting him, pulling after 5 mins and sitting him the rest of the game. I am thinking he can do one or two games

Four of the remaining six games are vs the eastern playoff teams including the Sixers, Wizards, Cavs and Toronto. Looks like it may be the Raptors in the first round, but who knows, the sixers could fall flat and we may face them, or the Hawks could win their five remaining games and finish in the 7 spot ahead of the Raptors. I don't think the Pistons will know who their first round match up is until probably next Monday..but they will get a chance to play some of them and questions is do we show them our hand then or we play it so that we win and keep the finals HCA alive until it is clinched?

After head-to-head, the next tie-breaker for HCA in the finals is record vs. your own conference. Right now, the Pistons are 34-13 against the East, and the Lakers are 33-14 against the West, so that could go either way if the Pistons and Lakers met in the finals with the same regular season record (as you said, round, it wouldn't come down to that with Pistons vs. Spurs, because the Pistons swept them this year).

Lets just get to them finals.

This will be a special playoff season for the Pistons. Where will our celebration be held when Flip delivers the Ship this season...

We may as well have it at your place on Fantasy Island.

Count me in.

The Hornets lost last night in Sacramento, so all three leading teams in the West now have two more losses than Detroit. If the Pistons go 2-1 in their last three games, they'll clinch HCA in the finals over everyone from the West. It looks like the one potential stumble remaining is if they go 1-2 while the Lakers go 2-0 (they have only two games left), which would result in a tie with the Lakers, and I believe LA would have the tiebreaker for HCA.

We may be jumping ahead of ourselves here, but hey who knows, I think a LA/Detroit Finals would be great and the ratings would be very good. Anyway, what is the tie breaker formula if the season series is split?

Is it, conf record, then division record?

If so, as of right now, LA and Det have a 35-15 conf record, Det has a 105 div record with one (Cavs) div game remaining, LA is 11-4 within their div with one (Kings) div game remaining.