OUTLOOK:

Detroit comes to this series as the East�s top NSL team with a sparkling 69-13 record.

The Pistons have literally destroyed teams during the season and there�s no question about their strength. It seems like they�ve led from start to finish! Impressive!  
They have arguably one of the super glitch players in the league and  3 top-15 players on their squad, and this makes a lot of things easier. Sheed has done well on the trade front this year and bringing in Lowry was key to the team�s dominance. The one �constant� throughout the season is the current MVP candidate Kyrie Irving, which is shooting a million balls a game, and making them! When he�s on, he�s a top 3 scorer in the game!
The engine smiles at them and they are so talented for a team that was already expected to being in the running for the ring in the pre-season, they�ve come really far, precise trades but with a sparkling record and two of the league biggest stars at the moment on the team GM Sheed has a lot of reasons to smile.
So we�ll see a bunch of 2k studs together in this one, which makes for an entirely different series experience. This is the first NSL playoff series EVER that has featured the teams from the Malice at the Palace, and although ancient history at this point, it was too good to pass up. Personally, I believe some of the feistier players will remember and will be on their toes to make it count!

Another important point to bring up is the fact that the Pistons have not one, but two Defensive Player of the Year candidates in Bam Adebayo and Rudy Gobert, and as seen in the Raptors series, they can hit you with a myriad of matchup sets that just work and lock teams down.

The player to watch will be the second fiddle, Kyle Lowry, who can do a little bit of everything an even play from the 1 or 2 with some 40 point outings with ease and has quickly become one of the steals of the regular season for Pistons, however he�ll be asked to do and perform up to par and balance that starting lineup with all that Kyrie doesn�t bring.

They have faced one of their worst tests and have come back from the brink of elimination so the next step goes through Indy.


SOMEBODY WILL SAY Indiana has the 5^th spot to show for their season, and after beating the higher seeded Wizards means you�ve made it through! Kudos! Now it�s time to face the juggernaut as a reward! The air tight East was tough and they finished with a 49-33 record, one game above Chicago for the last guaranteed spot in the big dance.

After a great start to the playoffs, outright sweeping the Wizards in that manner with awesome showings from Embiid, there was already some talk that the Pacers could be title contenders in the hard and competitive Eastern Conference. Then, it�s time to face the biggest challenge of the season, the top dog in the East, the mighty Pistons.
 
Well, as history will show and probably soon forget, I believe that last trade at the deadline is responsible for the surge and constant playoff performance so far for the Pacers. Of course the fact that you have Embiid on the team beasting is what makes the team go. I imagine GM Spudspace is still in the clouds ever since Biid was gifted to Indy and to the surprise of everyone, the team started playing even better as the season winded down.
 
They have proven themselves to be a competitive team so far and are solid most everywhere although with not a lot of depth or matchup flexible. With Biid playing the way he�s playing, they get just dangerous enough so that Sheed has to gameplan around him. Or maybe the solution is just to leave him be and guard everybody else that�s probably how I would think this through.

When you take a look at their roster, they have veteran players that can contribute immediately, and this is a team built for today and now with tones of journeyman players in search of their first ring. They aren�t afraid to go against Goliath and have shocked the world once. Time for round 2.

Inside sources on this one say that the team will play their style of ball and play to their strengths, which was what got them here. Personally I�d like to see Derrick Rose go deep in the playoffs as a career achievement award.

X-FACTOR MATCH-UP:  

Rudy Gobert X Joel Embiid

It is important to note that the enforcer in the paint and defensive standout here is Gobert, but the guy on the Pacers hasn�t really taken notice of any defender this season. Gobert played good defense and has a legit case for best defensive in NSL history. This is going to be a dog fight and Gobert will have his hands full. Biid is greatly more skilled and has the upper hand in terms of array of moves.

Embiid has just been great for the Pacers and his ability as an elite scorer and rebounder is something not all Centers have in their repertoire, but he does. It seems like he brings it on every play and every game, and he�s arguably the best Center in the game today. The winner of this matchup will most definitely set the tone for the interior defense.   

OUR PICK � Detroit Pistons:
Although the Pacers have the frontcourt scoring advantage because of how dominant Biid has been, but I believe the Pistons can make up  for that with the amount of defense elsewhere and if they get hot, watch out, they have a glitch of their own. Pacers have Siakam and Bogdanovic who will try to balance that equation and reduce the damage taken. Pacers will try to take this game inside to their bigs and Pistons have like 4 players who can make a three pointer on that team and I�m predicting lots of attempts for the Pistons team that is just so efficient to the point it�s annoying! Should be a great one and the outside shooting should take the edge.
Pistons, with Malice in 4.