Weekly Essentials: Pistons reminding everybody who they are

The Detroit Pistons are up two on San Antonio with nine to play, and they hold a head-to-head tiebreaker. The Spurs are their only concern at this point.

Because they won't be saddled with any pressure to win 70 games, the Pistons have only home-court advantage in a potential NBA Finals rematch with San Antonio as their carrot the rest of the way. Last year, the Spurs owned home court and ultimately won the championship in seven games, so as far as the Pistons are concerned, this year it's their turn.

The Eastern Conference? All taken care of. Detroit could lose every one of its nine remaining games and still finish ahead of Miami for top overall record. Their lead in the Central entering the week stands at 15, and that's over the best second-place team in the East. Total dominance.

"I thought for playoff situations that was maybe the most important, to have home court in the Eastern Conference," coach Flip Saunders said. "With the way that it's set up, 2-2-1-1-1, I think home court becomes extremely important."

Sunday, Detroit again flexed its muscles for the entire nation to see. After surrendering 63 points to Phoenix in the opening half, the Pistons decided to get serious. Chauncey Billups said they weren't being aggressive enough and they checked one another to make sure they gave maximum effort the rest of the way.

It wasn't alien to see the Suns racking up points -- they've reached 70-point mark by halftime twice in the past couple of weeks. What was uncharacteristic was how the Pistons shut down Phoenix in the second half, cutting down Steve Nash's passing options and holding the Suns to under 40 points while overcoming a 17-point deficit. They clinched the game by forcing a five-second violation. Impressive? That's the epitome of the word.

Flip attributes the Pistons' success to the high IQ level of the players. (Getty Images)

"Our team has the ability to see how a team is playing and make adjustments and really get into the other team's weaknesses," Saunders said. "That speaks to our players' intelligence, their basketball IQ and to how coachable they are. You can say they just turn it on, but it's about making adjustments. You can turn it on energy-wise, but you still have to execute. We have the ability to do both."

The manner in which they won their 59th game should serve as a reminder, to the league and to themselves, that this is a formidable beast of a title contender. With the home-court edge, barring injury, can anyone really expect to beat them four out of seven tries?

In three years, only last year's Spurs have managed it, and Detroit has revenge on its mind. That's potentially two months from now, and the regular-season tests aren't over.

The Pistons will look to send a message to Miami on national television Thursday when they visit South Florida. The last time they played at American Airlines Arena, Dwyane Wade scored 17 consecutive points to fuel a comeback victory. It marked one of the few times this season when another player made the Pistons look vulnerable. Don't think they've forgotten, and they'll be out to send a message to the team most expect them to face in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Detroit also has home games with potential second-round opponents Indiana, Cleveland and Washington, so expect the Pistons to make sure those teams realize how difficult their task is going to be. Sure, there will be talk that Saunders might give his guys extended rest to gear up for what's going to be a long postseason run, but remember, this is a team that has started the same five guys a league-record 73 times, even if that run will end when Rasheed Wallace serves a one-game suspension for his 16th technical foul of the season. The defense rests? Only as far as East regular-season supremacy is concerned. On the court, it never ceases.

Heat on ice

The questions about whether Miami could beat an elite team had been buried under the South Beach sand over the past month or so while the team got fat on light opposition. In one weekend, they're back.

Cleveland took out Miami on Saturday in an epic duel between LeBron James and Wade that was decided in the final minutes. Sunday, Shaquille O'Neal re-joining the Heat lineup wasn't enough to overcome the Nets. It wasn't even enough to be competitive against them.

New Jersey won its 12th consecutive game, serving notice that a potential Eastern Conference semifinals was going to be a war, not the walkover many expected it would be. As it stands, Miami is left trying to hold on tight to the No. 2 seed considering how quickly New Jersey is charging.

"I'm not worried about the Nets catching us for the second place in the East," said O'Neal, who scored 18 points despite being limited by foul trouble. "Come playoffs, it's going to be a different game, and hopefully, the refs let us play and let the players decide."

The Heat had better hope the playoffs are different, because right now they're struggling to beat anyone of significance. Potential first-round foe Milwaukee visits Tuesday before Detroit comes in for Thursday's game.

How the West is won

San Antonio would love to catch Detroit for the league's top record, but its first objective is holding off Dallas to lock up the top seed in the Western Conference. The teams meet for the final time Friday night in San Antonio, and a Spurs victory would just about seal the deal.

Dallas' recent struggles have allowed San Antonio to open up a two-game cushion in the Southwest, and with such little time left in the season, the Mavs can start scouting out potential No. 5 seeds should they lose again. But there's room for hope. Josh Howard is back after an extended absence with a strained left hamstring. Without him, Dallas struggled to top .500. With him, they blew out the Nuggets by 24.

Without sparkplug Josh Howard, the Mavs struggled big time. (Getty Images)

"I'm so happy we went through that little period, because it seems to have brought our team closer together," coach Avery Johnson said. "Nobody pointed fingers. At the same time, we played against some really good basketball teams that were really hot."

The Mavericks had been without Howard, Adrian Griffin (hamstring), Devin Harris (quad) and Marquis Daniels (neck) and have now lost Keith Van Horn (broken thumb) for the remainder of the regular season. While a couple of those players should be back soon, the team has petitioned the league to be able to sign a free agent in order to deal with the attrition -- they've been playing undrafted projects Josh Powell and Rawle Marshall heavy minutes.

Despite being short-handed, Johnson expects his team to remain true to the concepts that got them this far, and until Sunday, he wasn't happy with the results.

"I think the Mavericks -- our team -- we've kind of forgotten who we are as basketball team and what made us successful. It wasn't shots on the offense. It wasn't holding the ball. We've kind of looked like some of our old teams with one guy pounding the ball instead of ball movement and player movement. We haven't been physical," said Johnson. "Is that because we've been fatigued? I don't know. I know we've been a step slow. I can see that -- mentally and physically. We just need to get back to being who we are, and I think that will give us a better chance to win some of these games."

The Mavericks have potential playoff teams Sacramento, New Orleans/Oklahoma City, the L.A. Clippers and Phoenix in addition to the Spurs among their next six games, so they'll get no breaks as they struggle to come up with healthy bodies. A victory over the Spurs would re-ignite hopes that a top seed could be had and might aid in coming out of their current letdown.

"It's hard not to get caught up in this race, but obviously, it doesn't matter if you're a one or a four seed if you don't play at a high level," forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "You've got to make sure you're clicking on all cylinders and have everybody healthy. That's really more of a concern than the one or the four seed."

Race for eighth

While Miami/Detroit and Dallas/San Antonio are gigantic games, the two meetings between Philadelphia and Chicago, on a smaller scale, loom just as important. The teams start the week separated by 1.5 games, and it's unlikely both will make the playoffs.

"Our fate's in our own hands," said guard Kirk Hinrich, whose elevated play in recent weeks has aided Chicago's surge toward a berth.

Of course, the Bulls would have no shot if it weren't for Philadelphia's collapse, which can be attributed in part to the absence of Allen Iverson, who missed four games with an injured ankle and hadn't looked like his old self before this past weekend's wins over the New York Knicks.

He'll likely draw pesky Chris Duhon for most of his time on the court against Chicago, while Hinrich might be forced to deal with Philly stopper Andre Iguodala. This is what the season comes down to for these two: a home-in-home in which separation can be gained or lost.