NBA Tank Watch: Everything coming up Pistons

Sunday

While brackets were being busted all across the nation, a bunch of scrappy upstarts in the NBA decided they wanted to get in on the Cinderella-story action. Or, more accurately, a bunch of bad teams played even worst teams and managed not to lose! This is a great thing.

First, lets go to Nueva York where Los Knicks faced off against Los Cavs and notched a 61-46 advantage at medio tiempo ... err, halftime.  That's when Jarrett Jack decided to do his best Kyrie Irving impression and put the team on his back. Jack scored 31 points and had 10 assists while Dion Waiters chipped in 22 points and Cleveland blitzed New York in the second half 60-39, including 29-16 in the final quarter to nab a 106-100 victory.

This mild upset puts Cleveland a full game up on the Pistons and gives them two more wins in the victory column and gives the Pistons a little ... very little, but little nonetheless, breathing room for the No. 8 spot in the lottery.

Nearly as important were games in Orlando and Milwaukee as those NBA bottom feeders faced off against the slightly more competent Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, respectively. Behind the duo of DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas the Kings absolutely blitzed the Bucks 124-107. The Lakers, meanwhile, used a strong fourth quarter to pull away from the Magic 103-94.

The Kings now sit just 0.5 games in front of the Pistons in the lottery rankings while the Lakers are now two games up on Detroit. There are 12-13 games to play this season.

Time to stop celebrating and get on to today's slate!

Monday

It's a quiet day in Tank Watch land, as only teams on the periphery of Tank Watch are slated to play today, with Atlanta, New Orleans, Denver, Philadelphia and Milwaukee play today. But there is one game that matters, and it is very important.

Detroit at Utah

The Pistons find themselves in the same position as the Kings and Lakers found themselves in Sunday -- playing a team slightly worse than themselves. Detroit's opponent tonight is the Utah Jazz. Detroit is 2.5 games up on the Jazz currently. In Detroit's favor(?) is the fact that the teams already squared off once in Detroit and the Jazz won. Also, this game is in Utah and the Pistons never win on the road or against Western Conference teams.

The Pistons are officially done with the horrific part of their schedule, losers of 15 of their past 18. They next play the Jazz, Cavs, Heat, Sixers and Bucks. If Detroit manages to lose at least three of those games they have a legitimate shot of keeping their draft pick.

Root for: Utah