Pistons lock No.1 seed

Detroit will open its playoff run at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday, April 19, after finishing atop the Eastern Conference and locking in home court for every East series. (freep.com) The National Basketball Association’s playoff calendar starts April 18, but the Pistons’ first game is set for April 19 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC. Their opponent is still the East’s No. 8 seed, which will be decided in the play-in tournament on April 14-17. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) (freep.com) Detroit closed the regular season at 60-22, 4.5 games ahead of Boston in the East standings. The bracket released after games on April 12 slots Detroit into the No. 1 versus No. 8 matchup. (statmuse.com) (nba.com) The seed was settled before the regular season ended. Detroit clinched the East’s top spot on April 4 with a 116-93 win over Philadelphia, giving the club four games of cushion at the top. (espn.com) That made this more than a scheduling update. It confirmed when Detroit’s first top-seeded playoff run since the 2006-07 season will actually begin, and it guarantees any Eastern Conference Game 7 would be played in Detroit. (usatoday.com) (hoopsrumors.com) The turnaround is steep by recent Detroit standards. The Pistons missed the playoffs for five straight seasons before returning in 2025, and they had not won 50 games since 2007-08 before this season. (mlive.com) (wikipedia.org) Detroit’s regular season profile explains why it finished first: Cade Cunningham averaged 23.9 points and 9.9 assists, Jalen Duren averaged 10.5 rebounds, and the team ranked second in defensive rating at 109.7. (statmuse.com) The next dates are fixed even if the opponent is not. The play-in field in the East will settle the No. 8 seed this week, and Detroit’s postseason finally has a start time on the board. (nba.com) (freep.com)