by Under new head coach JB Bickerstaff, the Detroit Pistons were on a high for much of the early part of the 2024-2025 NBA season.
However, Detroit’s luck has deteriorated in recent days. The Pistons have gone 1-4 in their last five games, including losses to the lowly Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Hornets. Never expected Detroit to compete for a playoff or even a play-in slot heading into the year, but Detroit had been right there. At 8-12, the team is currently the No. 11 seed in the Eastern Conference, but just 1.5 games behind the No. 7 seed Indiana Pacers (9-10), Friday night’s competition.
The Pacers are currently on a three-game win streak, albeit all against sub-.500 competition (the Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers). Still, as Detroit has proven, it’s important to beat whoever is in front of you.
Friday night’s encounters are a must-win Emirates NBA Cup match for Indiana, who went 0-2 in the group stage. The Milwaukee Bucks (3-0) and Pistons (2-0) lead East Group B. The Miami Heat are at 1-2, while the 0-2 Toronto Raptors have already been eliminated. Indiana remains technically alive, though it could be eliminated even if it were to pull out a win against the collapsing Pistons.
According to the league’s PR team, the Pacers (who are now vying for a wild card berth, having failed to catch the 3-0 Bucks in their own bracket) could also be eliminated from the NBA Cup competition if the Atlanta Hawks win their East Group C match. against the Cleveland Cavaliers, or if both the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic win their respective East Group A matches, against the Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets respectively.
Now, for once, Indiana can have some injury luck on its side this season.
Two Pistons starters, point guard Cade Cunningham (left sacroiliac joint sprain) and power forward Tobias Harris (left hip impingement), have been listed as questionable to suit up for the season, according to the NBA’s most recent injury report tipoff of the game at 5 p.m. Two-way players Daniss Jenkins and Alondes Williams are with Detroit’s G League affiliate, while the Pistons’ third two-way player, forward Cole Swider, is only questionable. Striker Bobi Klintman is out with a bruise to the right calf.
The Pacers will once again be without starting wings Andrew Nembhard (left knee patellofemoral inflammation) and Aaron Nesmith (left ankle sprain). Indiana backup centers Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman remain on the shelf with their Achilles tendon tears. Pacers backup guard Ben Sheppard, who enjoyed a gain in minutes after Nesmith and Nembhard went down, is now out for several weeks with a left side oblique of his own. Two-way player Tristen Newton is questionable.
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