The NBA Cup may still look like a gimmick to plenty of fans, but the league’s in-season tournament has started to carve out a real reputation for itself. The courts can be a visual assault, and the games still count as regular-season contests, but the competition has consistently produced something close to playoff basketball.
That matters for a team like the Pistons.
Detroit has made no secret of where it wants to go, and the first checkpoint on that road should be the NBA Cup. The tournament has already shown a pattern that’s hard to ignore: of the six teams that have reached the NBA Cup Final, three later made the NBA Finals, and two of those became champions.
The first title game featured the Lakers and the Pacers. Neither team reached the NBA Finals that season, but Indiana did get to the Eastern Conference Finals and then the Finals the following year, which made the Cup run look like an early sign of what was coming.
The second season gave the league a bigger example. The Bucks beat the OKC Thunder, and Oklahoma City went on to make the NBA Finals and win it all.
Last year’s final also lined up with the real thing. The San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks met in the NBA Cup Final, and New York later went on to win the championship.
That kind of track record gives the tournament some real value as a measuring stick. It offers teams a chance to handle pressure in games that feel a lot closer to the postseason than the average November night.
For Detroit, that makes the Cup more than just another side event. The Pistons won’t be taken seriously until they prove it in the playoffs, so this is a chance to show they’re ahead of where they were a year ago.
They’ve already taken an early step by beating the Nets, and they still have group games left against the Raptors, Magic and Bucks. It’s a group the Pistons should expect to win.
If they get through, the next move should be obvious: go after the whole thing. The games may not carry extra weight in the standings, but they do give a team valuable reps in a setting that can sharpen it for what comes later.
Detroit has said its goal is to make the NBA Finals. The path starts with getting to the NBA Cup Final first.
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