PISTONS PULL AHEAD TO GO 6-0

 

(Image taken from NBA.com)

 

Well the Detroit Pistons went on a West coast "road" trip this week and came out still unbeaten, inheriting the early NBA leadership due to Chauncey Billups and "Big" Ben Wallace leading them to wins in Sacremento(102-88), Phoenix(111-104) and Portland(84-81). The 2004 champions are well known for their solid-but-unspectacular style which is certainly how the Detroit fans like their basketball, though it's not really how I like mine. Still under Flip Saunders it does seem to be working, though I say that as someone who hasn't gotten round to seeing the Pistons in action yet this season.

The Central division as a whole is the strongest in the League right now, with all the teams in it on course for the playoffs with winning records as things stand. The Bucks lost their unbeaten record in a home game to the Warriors(110-103) but the Michael Redd led side are still going strong.

The Wizards-Clippers tie may have gone to the Clippers 102-97 in DC but Washington are still leading the Southeast division with a 5-1 record that includes a 110-95 home win over the defending champions Spurs. The Heat are the only other team in that division with a winning record(4-3), Miami still hanging on in there thanks to Dwayne Wade.

Up in the Atlantic division it's the Sixers who've pulled out in front and they're only breaking even at 3-3(though that does include pulling out an 85-81 win in a red-hot duel at home to the Lakers), which pretty much says it all about the rest of the division, particularly the Nets, who lost their 100% record with a 90-89 loss in Miami before getting further hammered in Indiana(102-90) before the Rockets put them under(99-91).

Heading out West it's the Clippers who are still on fire, though a 93-78 loss in Minnisota has meant that they have to make do with a 5-1 record, not that they're going to be complaining too much given that their arena-mates the Lakers are only breaking even at 3-3. Between the two LA sides, both the Warriors and Suns are doing solidly, though the Warriors are ahead of the Suns in the table still, it was Steve Nash and crew who had the last laugh when the two sides met in Phoenix(101-86).

The Spurs and Mavericks are fixing up a Texas 1-2 in the Southwest Division, the defending champions with a 5-2 record to keep themselves in the mixer while coming off a long road trip. Both the Mavs and Grizzlies have winning records themselves and both teams have four wins each, the only reason the Mavs have the edge is due to them only having played six games so far to Memphis's seven.

The T-Wolves have taken over the lead in the Northwest division, with two home wins against both LA sides(the Lakers beaten 88-74) giving them a 3-2 record with Kevin Garnett da man there as per usual. Technically 3-2 outweighs 4-3 on percentage terms which is what has pushed the Jazz down to second.

And that's it for another week.

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