After yesterday's one point win at Orlando, Detroit has 99% sure clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference final. More than that, Detroit showed once again an amazing ability to bounce back from struggling moments and thanks to an amazing fighting spirit, to take advantage of the bad moments of their opponents, like it happened yesterday with the terrible second half of Orlando, after leading by double digits at halftime. More than that, Detroit is likely to reach the conference final with just 10 games played, while using most of their bench for a long time in several games, as they have secured most of their wins after two or three quarters in the game, not needing to put their starters in the field for a long time. Also the team showed yesterday that they can win very hard games, even without one of their stars. Can you imagine Boston winning at playoff game in Orlando without Garnett or Cleveland without Lebron? Detroit did it without Billups and after trailing by more than 10 points at half time! So if you ask me, can Detroit win the Eastern conference final? It won't be easy, but they have a good chance if they continue to play like they did in the second half of yesterday's game.

Another advantage that Detroit will have over their opponent in the conference final is that they will be way more rested for this crucial series. Unless Boston wins tomorrow, the opponent of Detroit in the conference final will have at least two more games played than Detroit in the playoffs and they will only finish the series at the end of the following week. But the main advantage of Detroit in that conference final is that neither Cleveland and Boston have showed the fighting spirit that Detroit has showed in some tough games at Philadelphia and at Orlando. Cleveland had an amazing opportunity to get home court advantage against Boston in the Game 1 of the series and they missed it. Also they had a great opportunity to get an easy 4-1 win in the series against Washington and they lost at home, needing to play a 6th game in the series to finally win it. Also Boston is looking terrible on the road and these problems can easily get transported to their home games, as their confidence is decreasing each time they get humiliated on the road, like it happened yesterday once again.

I'm not saying that Detroit will win the conference, but right now they have to be considered as the team in better position to do it. Because they really want it and especially they are stepping it up in every important game they are having right now. On the other side, Boston is struggling on the road and they can even be eliminated by the Cavs, if Lebron finally starts making those easy lay-ups he is missing right now. But if that happens and the Eastern conference final is between Detroit and Cleveland, it won't be the Cavs still trying to adapt from their mid-season big trade that will stop these Pistons which are showing why they are one of the most respected teams in the league once the post season arrives.