Detroit's stunning surge: Pistons enter post-All-Star play with NBA's best record

The Detroit Pistons had the worst record in franchise history at the All-Star break four years ago. And two years ago, their record at the break was even worse. Look at them now. When the NBA starts post-All-Star play on Thursday, the Pistons — a franchise that last won a playoff series in 2008 — will start the night with the best record in the league, a smidge ahead of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Detroit is 40-13, Oklahoma City 42-14. The Thunder were expected to be here. The Pistons probably weren't. How Detroit finishes, and if it can hold on to that top spot, is one of the intriguing storylines for the stretch run of the NBA season — with two-thirds of the year complete and teams now set to sprint toward the playoffs or sprint toward the bottom in search of better lottery odds. "We're just going to run our race," Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham said. "We like where we're at, and we're going to continue to try to finish our season strong." There's a lot to like about the Pistons going into the home stretch. They haven't been prone to any sort of real slide yet; they're 11-2 after a loss and are one of only three teams (Oklahoma City and San Antonio are the others) yet to have a losing streak of more than two games. They don't get blown out; they have a league-low three losses by 10 points or more. They're a league-best 17-6 against teams who were at .500 or better. Playoff basketball awaits in Detroit, and for the first time since 2008 there should be a Game 1 of a postseason series at home for the Pistons. Plenty of other teams — the Thunder, Boston, New York, San Antonio, Denver, Houston, Cleveland — are probably safe to call playoff locks at this point as well. The next two months will tell the tale of which teams find their way either into Round 1 or will be trying to land the No. 1 draft pick instead. "It's been hard. It's been a long journey so far, but just going to work every day, finding ways to connect with my teammates, connect with the city the best I can, and bring wins to the city," Cunningham said. "That's what the city respects and loves is people that go out there and compete every day. There were times they didn't like how we played. We figured it out, and now we have something going, something building. Just have to keep going now." The realistic contenders The top five teams in the NBA record-wise right now: Detroit, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Boston, Denver and New York (the Nuggets and Knicks are tied). Expect one of those clubs as the champion in June. Granted, in the early days the league had far fewer teams than it does now. But there have been only four instances of the eventual NBA Finals winner not being among the league's top-five teams record-wise at the All-Star break. Milwaukee was seventh at the break in the coronavirus-affected 2020-21 season. Detroit was seventh at the break in 2003-04, Houston was ninth at the break in 1994-95 and Washington was eighth in 1977-78. The scoring race It looks like a two-person race for the scoring title: the Los Angeles Lakers' Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Doncic is averaging 32.8 points, Gilgeous-Alexander — the reigning champion — is averaging 31.8. Doncic won the scoring race in 2023-24; Gilgeous-Alexander could become the 14th player in NBA history to win the title in consecutive seasons. Award possibilities Boston's Jayson Tatum and Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton — All-NBA picks last season — were going to be out of the awards mix this season because of their Achilles tendon tears suffered in last season's playoffs, so it was clear from the outset of this season that the group of award winners this spring would be different. Turns out, it's going to be very different. Because of the 65-game rule for eligibility for most player awards, the Lakers' LeBron James is going to see his 21-year streak of making the All-NBA team end. He's one of five All-NBA picks from last season who are assured of not making the team this year, joining Tatum, Haliburton, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams. On the brink of joining that list: Denver's Nikola Jokic and Golden State's Stephen Curry, who basically can miss one more game the rest of the way to preserve their award eligibility. Cleveland's Evan Mobley — second-team All-NBA last season — has been inactive 13 times this year, so he doesn't have a lot of missed-time wiggle room down the stretch of the season. The Lakers' Austin Reaves, Washington's Anthony Davis and Memphis' Ja Morant are all well past the cutoff for eligibility as well. Others who are close to missing too much time for an All-NBA shot: Doncic, San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, the Los Angeles Clippers' Kawhi Leonard, Utah's Lauri Markkanen and Phoenix's Devin Booker. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA