Monday’s game at Barclays Center between the Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons will take on a playoff feel as the teams, locked in a tight battle for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, meet for the third and final time this season with the head-to-head tiebreaker at stake.
The Nets (35-33) have been on a nice roll of late, winning three straight games to improve to 5-4 since the All-Star break.
But the Pistons (34-31) have been on a tear. Detroit’s 131-108 blowout of the Chicago Bulls on Sunday marked the fifth straight win for the Pistons, who are 8-1 since the break and have won 12 of their last 14 games overall.