The Detroit Pistons entered March with a comfortable five-game lead atop the Eastern Conference standings.<\/p>\n
A week-and-a-half later, that cushion has been cut in half.<\/p>\n
Detroit, the East leader since early November, has lost four straight, bringing the 43-41 Celtics to within 2 1\/2 games of first place in the conference.<\/p>\n
Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff called the slide \u2014 which continued Sunday with a 121-100 loss to Miami in which his team trailed by as many as 29 points \u2014 \u201ca little bit of a rut\u201d and said he isn\u2019t focused on the newly fortified challenger nipping at their heels.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoston is obviously a good team, but we\u2019re not concerned about Boston,\u201d Bickerstaff told reporters<\/a> after the loss to the Heat. \u201cOur biggest concern is making sure that we\u2019re doing what we need to do to go out and be as good as we possibly can. We\u2019ve got plenty of time to figure it out, and we will.\u201d<\/p>\n While Detroit has slipped, Boston has won 13 of its last 17, with all but one of those wins coming by double digits. The Celtics are 2-0 since superstar Jayson Tatum returned from Achilles surgery, including a 109-98 result<\/a> against another East contender, the Cleveland Cavaliers, on Sunday.<\/p>\n Tatum has been on a minutes restriction \u2014 he logged 27 in each of his first two games back \u2014 and still is working his way back to peak form. But he looked comfortable and confident during his double-double against the Dallas Mavericks and 20-point showing against the Cavs, making an immediate impact<\/a> as a scorer, passer and rebounder after a nearly 10-month layoff.<\/p>\n Having Tatum back raises the ceiling of a Celtics team that already looked like one of the NBA\u2019s best without him. Case in point: DraftKings Sportsbook now has Boston as the favorite to win the East<\/a> (+170), with +550 championship odds that trail only Oklahoma City\u2019s +140.<\/p>\n Will the Celtics be able to leapfrog the Pistons over their final 18 regular-season games and secure the No. 1 seed? Based on the teams\u2019 recent track records, it\u2019s certainly possible. But Detroit has the benefit of a much more favorable remaining schedule \u2014 the seventh-easiest in the league<\/a>, per Tankathon\u2019s strength of schedule calculations.<\/p>\n