FanHouse MichaelCurry

TEQUESTA, Fla. -- This looked like a Bad Boys reunion.

The NBA came from around the country Wednesday to celebrate the life and mourn the death of Chuck Daly, but nothing was more impressive than his collection of pallbearers.

It was the nucleus of his two championship teams in Detroit, the ones that transformed him from just another coaching lifer into a Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist revered by all.

Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Vinnie Johnson, Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer were at his side. The Bad Boy Pistons and their leader one final time.

"I think when you go through the things we did together, there is a bond that never breaks,'' said Laimbeer. "This was a sad time, but a time to celebrate who he was, and what he did, and how loved he was.''

FanHouse previews the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Pistons and Cavs have a lot of history together, which is fortunate, because that's the only thing that makes this series the least bit compelling. The Cavs finished the season as the most dominant team in the NBA, leading the league with a franchise record 66 wins and terrorizing opponents with an 8.9 point differential. The Pistons, on the other hand, posted their first losing record since 2001, winning just 18 times in their last 50 games. This could get ugly.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Early in the season when the Pistons were struggling to adjust to life after Chauncey Billups, a common joke among those covering the team at the Palace (usually muttered while waiting for the locker room doors to open after yet another loss) was that Detroit's 4-0 start before Allen Iverson joined the roster would be the reason why the Pistons made the playoffs.

As the season progressed the joke became less funny and more poignant -- until eventually it revealed itself to be the truth. On Friday, with only three games to spare, the Pistons finally secured their invitation to the postseason with a win over the New Jersey Nets.

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NEW YORK -- A beautiful thing happened to the Detroit Pistons on their way to the playoffs. Oh, they haven't quite reached the postseason yet, but there isn't much doubt that is where they're headed, where they belong now that the team has been made whole again.

It took the subtraction of Allen Iverson to mend the Pistons, and while there is a chance his removal came a bit too late, Detroit needs to win just one more game to seal a playoff berth. The Pistons are now tied for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference with the Chicago Bulls, a lucky spot that means avoiding a first-round clash with LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers.

NEW YORK -- A beautiful thing happened to the Detroit Pistons on their way to the playoffs. Oh, they haven't quite reached the postseason yet, but there isn't much doubt that is where they're headed, where they belong now that the team has been made whole again.

It took the subtraction of Allen Iverson to mend the Pistons, and while there is a chance his removal came a bit too late, Detroit needs to win just one more game to seal a playoff berth. The Pistons are now tied for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference with the Chicago Bulls, a lucky spot that means avoiding a first-round clash with LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- For most of the season, Will Bynum has lived in obscurity, the third point guard on a team that already had two starters at the position. But lately? Allen Iverson is gone and Rodney Stuckey hit the wall, and Bynum isn't letting his opportunity go to waste.

With their postseason hopes on the line, things looked bleak for the Pistons heading into the final quarter against the Bobcats on Sunday night. After allowing a 17-point lead to completely evaporate, the Pistons actually finished the third quarter trailing by one. And then, as if things weren't difficult enough, Rip Hamilton was ejected after picking up his second technical of the night.

Naturally, that's when Bynum took over, etching his name in the team's record book in the process by scoring 26 points in the final quarter to put the game on ice.

The Pistons have announced Allen Iverson is done for the season, with Joe Dumars citing the ongoing and possibly dubious back injury that kept A.I. out for 16 games.

Obviously, there's more at play here. As FanHouse's Matt Watson has reported over the past few weeks, the Iverson-Pistons relationship has turned into something awful. You'd have to imagine this early break-up -- with the playoffs in question -- has more to do with personal emotion than A.I.'s back.

Is this a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease, or a team desperate for a win determined to keep making changes until they get one?

If you're the Detroit Pistons, it's probably a little bit of both.

Following Rip Hamilton's comments the other day that he was no longer cool with coming off the bench, Michael Curry announced that Hamilton will be returned to the starting lineup Friday when the Pistons visit the Magic.

Anyone who's followed the Pistons on a regular basis couldn't possibly have been surprised by Sunday's embarrassing blowout in Cleveland. (You know things are bad when you lose by 21 and a note on the team's official Twitter feed still admits "it wasn't as close as the final score.")

The Cavs have made a lot of teams look silly this year, but the loss was Detroit's sixth in a row and their 15th in 20 games. Forget the Pistons' streak of six consecutive appearances in the Conference Finals -- at their current pace, they're in very real danger of missing the playoffs completely.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Pistons have won just five of their last 15 games, so I'm sure Rip Hamilton would dispute the idea that anyone on the team is "thriving" right now.

But ever since he swallowed his pride and moved to the bench nine games ago, Hamilton has helped balance Detroit's guard-heavy rotation that also features Rodney Stuckey and Allen Iverson. Not only that, he's done so by playing his best ball of the season -- even if he's not yet comfortable in his role.