Last season they became the first team in 14 years to reach the conference finals for the fifth consecutive season. This time around, and after an early stumble, they are on track to be the first NBA team in 35 years to make it six in a row.

If you guessed the San Antonio Spurs, you’d be wrong.

We’re talking about the Detroit Pistons, who after losing three of four to close out a Western Conference swing in November, have won six in a row and 15 of 18 to solidify themselves at 21-7 and remain in close pursuit of the Boston Celtics for the top seed in the East.

It doesn’t get much more consistent than that, regardless of what you think of the rest of the conference. The last team to make the East finals five years in succession was the Bulls (1989-93) – although the Pistons (1987-91) also did it in that era as well. But to do it six years in a row, you have to go back to the Los Angeles Lakers (1968-73), when there were just nine teams in the Western Conference as opposed to the 15 in each conference today.

The strange part is, three of the first four seasons the Pistons got to the conference finals it was with three different coaches – Rick Carlisle, Larry Brown and incumbent Flip Saunders. Generally speaking, that sort of revolving door is relegated to the league’s bottom-feeders, but in this case there were extenuating circumstances for president of basketball operations Joe Dumars, the rock of the franchise.

Only Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince (then a rookie who played sparingly), are still on the roster from Carlisle’s 2002-03 team that ascended so quickly. And were it not for a personality conflict with owner Bill Davidson’s president of business operations, Tom Wilson, Carlisle may been around a lot longer. Otherwise, they may have avoided Brown’s bizarre but predictable cameo appearance that did happen to include the NBA title in 2004.

Nonetheless, Saunders is in his third season as coach since coming over from Minnesota, and to say the Pistons have lost their focus as a great defensive-oriented team would be woefully misleading. They’ve held their last seven opponents to less than 87 or fewer points, and with the trio of Billups, Hamilton and Prince still the core, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess complete one of the most consistently effective starting lineups in the game today.

Even more impressive is how they’ve blown open the last three games against the Nets, Rockets and Grizzlies by coming out of halftime with an offensive eruption while holding their opponents to under 20 points in the third quarter.

"Our defense is getting to be extremely solid,” Saunders said. “We’ve turned it up in the third quarter and we’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

What’s different about this team is the bench, with Dumars pushing Saunders to cut down on the minutes that the starting five have logged – more than any other group in the league the past three-plus seasons. It isn’t easy as they have gradually brought some youth into the mix, but starters’ minutes are down. Forward Jason Maxiell, while raw offensively, is a classic rugged rebounder with exceedingly long arms and blocks nearly 1.5 shots a game, while shooters Jarvis Hayes and Flip Murray have combined for nearly 15.0 points a game from the wings, and rookie guard Aaron Afflalo figures to make more of an impact scoring as the season progresses.

What’s even better news is they just got heralded No. 1 draft choice Rodney Stuckey back, who fractured his non-shooting left hand in the last preseason game. After missing the first 25 games, he also figures to gradually make an impact the second half of the season in the backcourt.

And while athletic young forward Amir Johnson continues to disappoint by his uneven play, Dumars just recently unloaded the big contract of Nazr Mohammed to Charlotte and added the big body of Primoz Brezec. If nothing else, he’ll relieve some minutes from Wallace and McDyess in the post and provide salary cap relief for the coming offseason.

Already they have dominated the improved Eastern Conference, beating the Celtics in Boston and winning 13 of 15 so far. The irony is both losses have come at the hands of the Bulls and their former Pistons teammate Ben Wallace, but that may just have been a coincidence as the Bulls are obviously mired in their own mess.

More to the point about the Pistons is the focus on their late playoff fades the last two seasons. They have certainly appeared to be a result of exhaustion – Billups and Prince in particular. Then again, we won’t know until we get to the spring and see what gives. Nonetheless, ‘Sheed came to camp in the best shape in years, and there is no more solid guy in the league than McDyess, who missed the 2004 title – coming a year later – and was so emotionally shattered by their seven-game loss to the Spurs in 2005.

But as much as the NBA world is enthralled by the new Celtics and their return to grace, and the love so many seem to have with all the runners out West, chances are these Pistons have the experience and versatility to unsettle the Celtics in a best-of-seven series, with the Spurs inevitably waiting again.

And considering the past five years, who in their right mind would underestimate De-troit basketball?

Shots from the perimeter

Meanwhile out West, the Warriors continue to make noise behind their superior point guard Baron Davis, and the obvious infusion that Stephen Jackson – Captain Jack as it were – has brought since his suspension at the beginning of the season. Since their 0-6 start, they are 17-6, but it is the consistent production and leadership of Davis that has been rock solid. Averaging 21.9 points, 8.0 assists, 2.52 steals and 4.9 rebounds, if he can stay healthy, they will be a factor this season without the unflattering Cinderella moniker.

Just consider:

• They’ve already had two five-game road trips, and they were 4-1 in the first one and 3-2 on the second. That’s the first time since the 1973-74 season they’ve had winning records in back-to-back five-game trips.
• They are 9-7 on the road, that’s the first time they’ve begun a season better than .500 since they were 10-6 during the 1975-76 season.
• And their 17-12 start is the best they’ve had since they were 21-8, some 16 years ago with the “Run TMC” crew of general manger Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond.

 

That’s not to say Davis, Jackson and young Monta Ellis are or will be as effective as those guys were by the end of this season, but they may. And perhaps more importantly is Mullin has put together a better group around this explosive trio than he had with his partners a generation ago. Not surprisingly, the most obvious thing they have in common is coach Don Nelson’s presence and his love for the unorthodox.

Just as it was then and holds true now, it also makes their greatest strength their most obvious failing – speed and recklessness.

For the first time since LeBron James was a freshman in high school – in March of 2000 – the Cavaliers won in Dallas. James had 24 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists to lead the Cavs to their 88-81 win Thursday over the Mavs despite getting battered and bruised along the way. The win was the Cavs second in a row (after beating the Heat on Christmas Day) and it’s the first time they’ve won two in a row since November. But more important to them is the win moved them into the eighth seed in the East and climbing. Once Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao get into sync following their contract delays, they should gain some momentum and play more consistently as a team … until general manager Danny Ferry opens the door to make a deal for a point guard.

While we’re mentioning the Mavericks, they have lost two in a row after seemingly getting back on course with a five-game winning streak. In the loss to the Cavs, Dirk Nowitzki had 20 rebounds for the first time in nearly five years, but he’s got problems with his heavily taped shooting hand. But at least he’s got an excuse. The always streaky Jason Terry has been on a down cycle again – making just 3-of-22 shots from the field the past two games. That, along with the inability to defend big guards is the reason why the rumors about Jason Kidd returning to the Mavs won’t stop.

The Celtics have taken their road show West for the first time, ripped the Kings by 20 on Wednesday, then Ray Allen struggled in his return to Seattle with just 10 points, but it didn’t prevent a 104-96 win over the Sonics. Paul Pierce responded to Allen’s woes with his first breakout game of the season and 37 points, while the unwaveringly consistent KG kept things together with 23 points and 14 rebounds. To put things in perspective for the improvement of the Celtics and the reason Danny Ainge is a lock for executive of the year … they are now 24-3. Remember, they finished last season with 24 wins – the second worst record in franchise history.

And finally, it now appears official that Bulls general manager John Paxson will stick with career assistant Jim Boylan as coach for the rest of the season after firing Scott Skiles on Christmas Eve. Whether or not the Bulls quit on Skiles, he quit on them, or both isn’t as relevant as the obvious factor that this team is a mismatched set and Paxson has plenty of work ahead of him. Both Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are having sub-par seasons after turning down contract offers, Kirk Hinrich is having his worst season, they’re stuck with Ben Wallace’s bloated contract, and they still don’t have a dependable go-to guy or a low-post threat.

In other words, he still has a ton of work to do and the Bulls are a classic of example of a how much easier it is to take a horrible team and make them competitive, then take a competitive team to the next level and make them elite. They’re stuck in neutral and there is no track record that says Paxson has the wherewithal to straight things out.