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One year ago the Pistons formed an f-ing wall and a new era was born

Where were you when the wall was formed?

By Sean Corp
Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

One year ago today, the Detroit Pistons were riding high on a win streak and facing the daunting task of facing the San Antonio Spurs on the road.

Then, Brandon Jennings went full SWAG, Stan Van Gundy implored his team to form a f***ing wall and a new era of Pistons basketball was formed.

First, the play.

And just for fun, hear the Spurs announcers, slightly more dejected:

When the refs put 0.1 on the clock, Stan Van Gundy coaches his team up in typical SVG fashion. The best part is Greg Kelser's chuckle after Van Gundy drops the F-bomb.

The moment blew up on social media, inspiring serious analysis, a new defense an expletive-filled examination, the team bonded, Van Gundy was befuddled why anyone cared and perhaps there was a nerdy Game of Thrones-related tweet or two ...

The Pistons embraced the phrase, or a sanitized version of it, wearing #FormAWall T-shirts and playing Pink Floyd's The Wall at the team's following home game.

While we'll probably never forget Van Gundy's f****ing proclamation, it might signify something greater than the moment itself. It might just be the moment we can say the Pistons truly turned the corner.

Sure, it might be technically correct to say that the moment truly was the release of the Player Who Shall Not Be Named, but the Spurs game was the first big test during that 12-3 run, it signified the embrace of the Pistons fan base to Jennings, who went from frustrating knucklehead to swag-tastic point guard seemingly overnight.

It's fitting that a year later, the Pistons are certainly in a much better position as a franchise and Jennings is finally healthy after an extended absence due to his Achilles tear. There is no telling where this team is going to go, but now, as then, Jennings is going to be a big part of getting the team there.

H/T to DBB Diablo for refreshing our memories in the comments.

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