Mitch Albom: Pistons have playoff edge – they already know who they are

My first Detroit Pistons playoff game was 40 years ago, in the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, which, a decade later, during the Summer Olympics, would see a bomb explode in the park next to it. That playoff night, the Pistons sported Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, Isiah Thomas and Kelly Tripucka — and got trashed by a Hawks team that featured Dominique Wilkins, aka the Human Highlight Film, and Spud Webb, a guard who, by NBA standards, could fit in your pocket. The Pistons lost that game, 140-122.

They would lose Game 2 as well, then win Game 3 back home at the Pontiac Silverdome, before dropping Game 4 in double overtime by a single point. Taken on its own, you’d not call that a successful postseason. Eliminated in the first round.

Defeated in the closing seconds. Didn’t even get to a decisive Game 5. But the next year, those same Pistons returned with their lineup largely intact (save for Adrian Dantley replacing the traded Tripucka) and, having grown from their defeat, they went all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals before losing to (ugh) the Boston Celtics.

Now here we are again, 40 years later, on the lip of another Pistons postseason that begins Sunday, April 19. The Silverdome has been demolished. The Omni has been demolished.