The brackets are set, and Detroit will face the Magic in the first round. Get ready for some Dwight Howard thunder dunks, as well as soft-focus montages of Grant Hill. Sadly, though, he may be the only former Piston to get significant action: Carlos Arroyo seems to have fallen out of Orlando's rotation, and Darko Milcic severely sprained his ankle earlier this week.
As I'm sure you remember, Detroit swept the season series this year:
12/8: Pistons pull rabbit out of hat against Magic
2/21: No homecoming magic for former Pistons
2/23: Pistons rely on fourth-quarter magic in Orlando
4/11: Detroit clinches title, top seed in East
Judging by what you see above, what can should you expect in the first round? Well, more bad puns in my titles, that's for sure, but hopefully only five of them. As much as I'd like to predict a sweep, it never seems to go that easy for the Pistons, so I'm guessing those of you with tickets to Game 5 on May 1 can plan on going to the game. Courtesy of the Detroit News, here's the full schedule:
- Game 1: Saturday, at Detroit 7 p.m. (FSN, ESPN)
- Game 2: Monday, at Detroit, 7 p.m. (TV20, TNT)
- Game 3: Thursday, at Orlando, 8 p.m. (TV20, TNT)
- Game 4: Saturday, April 28, at Orlando, 3 p.m. (TV20, TNT)
- Game 5: Tuesday, May 1, at Detroit, time TBA (TV20)
- Game 6: Thursday, May 3, at Orlando, time TBA (TV20)
- Game 7: Saturday, May 5, at Detroit, time TBA (TV20, TNT)
If you had fun with March Madness and can't get enough of basketball brackets, check out the BallHype NBA Playoffs Pick'em Contest. (And if you haven't signed up for Ballhype already ... dude, you're missing out. Get on your horse, and then add me as a friend.)