With everything that's been going on this season, it might surprise some people the Pistons have actually played a light schedule.
Even after their weekend back-to-back against Milwaukee and Phoenix, the Pistons have played just 49 games. Only New Orleans has played fewer games (48). Boston and Milwaukee, in contrast, have already completed a league-high 53.
What does this mean? The Pistons won't get many breathers in the schedule after the All-Star break this weekend. They've got a particularly brutal stretch at the end of this month - a crazy-quilt five-game road trip that includes stops in Cleveland, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando and Boston.
From that point, they play four games a week with one exception (a three-game week) until the last week of the regular season. Michael Curry must monitor the minutes of Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess and Tayshaun Prince, so that they'll have something left in the tank for the playoffs.
And please don't say, 'If they make the playoffs.' They've still go the fifth-best record in the East. The current eighth seed, New Jersey, is four games below .500. The Pistons, tough schedule or not, are not going to slide that much.