Costa and Jansen give their thoughts on why the national media is not giving the Detroit Pistons a chance to beat the New York Knicks in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
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00:00John, we've got Pistons playoff action on the horizon, and we've been ramping up and getting ready to talk more and more about this series with the Knicks.
00:06Tomorrow, we're going to do our full preview and who wins, how many games, X factors, all that stuff.
00:13But I've noticed a tone around this basketball team that predates even this season, but continues even though they're winning.
00:22I started looking around to see what other people are saying about this series.
00:26ESPN had 10 writers, all of them picked.
00:30The Knicks.
00:30Even though the Pistons beat them repeatedly during the regular season.
00:36Three or four times, including both games at Madison Square Garden.
00:40But we understand playoffs are a different animal.
00:42All of them picked the Knicks.
00:45I looked around at ballots to see, hey, is our guy J.B. Bickerstaff, does anybody think this guy should win coach of the year?
00:51No.
00:51Runner-up on ESPN and Yahoo.
00:53Well, what about Malik Beasley?
00:55Guy finished one three-pointer shy of the most in the NBA this season.
00:59came off the bench.
01:00He's got to be sixth man of the year, right?
01:02You would think.
01:03Nobody has put out that they think he should win sixth man of the year.
01:07Kate Cunningham.
01:09He's on some all-NBA teams, but the same or lower than Jalen Brunson.
01:15And there's a healthy debate there, but nobody's putting Kate above Jalen Brunson.
01:19And it's across the board, right?
01:21This team does not get respect.
01:24Isaiah Thomas was on Restore the Floor with Stoney.
01:27And Isaiah spoke about this.
01:29This has gone on for years.
01:30You just got to zig when they zag, because you're not going to get love.
01:59In Detroit.
02:00But why?
02:02Why does this keep happening?
02:04Even though they're finally starting to win, and they have a star, and they're not doing
02:07it in a way that should deter you.
02:11You should be excited if you've watched this basketball team.
02:13Why doesn't the league embrace the Pistons more?
02:17And by the way, do you embrace this underdog role, or do you resent it?
02:20Well, so first, in terms of the underdog, I think you embrace it.
02:27You have to embrace it.
02:29You don't resent it.
02:30You use anything you can for motivation.
02:32And we hear that from athletes all the time.
02:36And so, yeah, you do absolutely embrace it.
02:38But in regards to Detroit never getting any love, and I know Isaiah was a superstar, but
02:46I don't think he ever got credit as being a superstar.
02:50I don't...
02:51Has Detroit...
02:53We've had some great players, but I don't know that Detroit has ever...
02:58They've obviously, you know, Michael Jordan played in Chicago, never had a Jordan, a LeBron,
03:03you know, and this is not me taking a shot at any of the players, but they've always,
03:09when they've won, they've done it as a great team.
03:13And Isaiah's right, they've done it differently.
03:16And I think there's a lot of people in the NBA...
03:19I don't know if it even goes back as far as the bad boys and, you know, how they didn't
03:26like it because it wasn't...
03:28It wasn't...
03:30Pretty.
03:30Pretty.
03:32And then the going-to-work Pistons...
03:33They did it also.
03:35Ugly, gritty...
03:36Right.
03:36...team defense.
03:37And now, this is why I think people, if you don't like the NBA, I'm with you, I stand
03:42with you, I agree with you, but the Pistons play different.
03:47And they are...
03:48Which I think is a good thing.
03:49That's what I'm saying, is if you don't like the NBA, I get that.
03:54I don't either.
03:55But I like the Pistons because they play four quarters.
04:01We don't see load management.
04:05Every once in a while, maybe there's a guy that gets rest, but you don't see that on a
04:10weekly or nightly basis, not managing the roster just to get to the playoffs where the NBA takes
04:18care of load management for you.
04:20Yeah.
04:20And they play defense.
04:24They are aggressive, confrontational at times.
04:27That's a good word.
04:27And again, it bucks the trend of what the NBA wants to have.
04:34But the way the Pistons as an organization have been treated doesn't match up with what
04:39they've accomplished.
04:40There's only five teams in the NBA that have won more championships than the Detroit Pistons.
04:45Do you feel like that's the perception around the franchise?
04:46The only franchises that have won more NBA titles are the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles
04:52Lakers, the Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs.
04:56I get it.
04:57Those are your royalty, right?
05:00Nobody else, though, has won more than the Pistons and they don't get treated that way.
05:03Two different eras of champions.
05:06They're on the way back up and you think this would be celebrated more.
05:09And instead, it's like, hey, the Knicks are going to dispatch him in four, five, six.
05:13Well, but here's the other thing is, and this is, again, part of the NBA problem is certain
05:19guys get a chance to walk around without having to dribble the basketball.
05:25Certain guys, if you breathe on them, it's a foul.
05:30Yeah.
05:30They pick and choose who those guys are.
05:34And like it or not, that's part of why people have gone away from the NBA.
05:40It's part of why I've gone away from the NBA.
05:43We've talked about this throughout the course of the year and JB, you know, stood at the
05:48podium, pouted on the podium talking about this where Cade Cunningham doesn't get the
05:54calls.
05:54They don't get the same respect.
05:56Some of that is they're the new guy on the block.
05:58They have been bad for so long that I think a lot of people, whether it's the postseason
06:03awards are saying, OK, this is great.
06:06You know, hey, you know, Cade, you're going to be on an all NBA team, but this is the first
06:10year.
06:10So you might be second or third where Brunson might be first or second because he's done
06:14it before.
06:15All right.
06:15And it's we need to see if you can repeat this.
06:18Is this Cade scores as many points, more rebounds, more assists.
06:22I get it.
06:23Brunson's a little more efficient, but I will deflect to the defer to the head to heads.
06:27I think a lot of it is just they've been here before the Knicks.
06:30Why are people picking the Knicks?
06:31Some of its experience.
06:32I get that playoff experience, but they're going to disregard what happened in the regular
06:37season.
06:37Even when the Pistons weren't playing good, they could still beat the Knicks.
06:41Exactly.
06:42But I'm looking at the list and it's Bobby Marks, Knicks in five, right?
06:46Mark Spears, Knicks in six.
06:48I mean, some say Knicks in seven.
06:49So they're giving the Pistons the credit of of competing in the series.
06:52But nobody is picking the Pistons to win this series because they're saying you're the new
06:56guys on the block and they haven't earned the right to have our respect.
06:59And JB hasn't earned the right to be coach of the year.
07:01Malik Beasley hasn't earned the right to be six man of the year.
07:03And Kate Cunningham's not in the MVP conversation, not in the first team conversation.
07:07And it just I wonder, as you guys are inundated with this, like we are, you care about our
07:11teams.
07:12Do you look at that and say, good, I'll embrace the underdog rule, Detroit versus everybody.
07:18Or does part of you resent this?
07:20Like, no, we're doing this the right way.
07:22We're playing the game the right way.
07:24We're an enjoyable watch in a league that doesn't have many of them.
07:28Celebrate us.
07:30Appreciate us.
07:32Which camp are you in?
07:33248-539-9797.
07:35And a bigger question is, why does this happen?
07:37And it may be because of what Isaiah said, because we've dared to go against the grain.
07:42Again, I'll rest on, I think a lot of the NBA right now is just saying, okay, prove it.
07:51Prove us wrong.
07:52Sure.
07:53And, you know, Cade Cunningham, prove that you can do it for more than a year, that you
07:57can stay healthy for more than a year, that you could be the star for more than a year.
08:00Prove it to the entire organization that you are more of a 43 or 40 win team and you are
08:08on the ascent versus the 14 win team that you were last year.