Wings Edge 'Hawks, Pistons Lotto-screwed

*I started writing this post yesterday & didn't finish until this morning, so expect a double-shot posting today. Keep in mind the contents below were written without the knowledge of the results of Wings-'Hawks game 4...

The Red Wings surprised me. I didn't think they'd ever have the lead in this series, especially not after game 1. They didn't look like they belonged on the ice, lost basically every battle and looked like they were on the penalty kill all game. It sucks, but I pretty much agreed with this guy. Which goes to show you can't base your opinion of a series on the first game.

Howard has been outstanding though, and looks to be winning the goalie battle. He's made some spectacular stops and his counterpart, Crawford, has let in a couple soft goals. Game 2 was pretty good, although I thought the Wings were going to blow it in the 3rd like they had several times already. Instead they ran away with it.

I missed game 3 but caught the highlights the next day. Once again the Wings out-skated the 'hawks, stoning them on one end and making the most of their chances on the other.

Once again the Pistons got hosed in the draft lottery. Slotted in at #7 (and a 3.6% shot at the #1 pick) after winning the coin-toss against Washington, they ended up at #8 when Washington won the 3rd pick (again). The Wizards of Washington are a perennial lottery participant, picking 3rd in 2012, 6th in 2011, 1st in 2010, and would've been 5th in 2009 (traded the pick). The Pistons picked 9th in 2012 (with a 25-43 record to Washington's 20-46), 8th in 2011 (30-52 to Washington's 23-59), and 7th in 2010 (27-55 to Washington's 26-56). This year they finished with the same record, but Detroit picks 8th and Washington picks 3rd. 

The Pistons have been hosed by some bad luck, along with a refusal to tank in which they were (nearly) alone. Over the past 4 years the Pistons' record in the last 10 games of the season is .450, about .100 higher than their regular season record. That's pretty significant.  Playing at that level over 82 games would've gotten them into the playoffs at least once.

Tanking has been a problem for a long time, and teams like Detroit get penalized for doing it, while notorious tank jobs from teams like Charlotte, Cleveland and Golden State have been rewarded. I'm getting on the bandwagon with Bill Simmons for his proposal of the "entertaining as hell tournament". Basically the bottom 18 teams do a March Madness-style tournament for the 7 & 8 seeds in the playoffs, and the losers all have a 1 in 14 shot at the top 3 picks. I'm in.