Flip Saunders was kicked out of the Minnesota Timberwolves organization, so his success with the Pistons is somewhat of a surprise. No one thought they would win less than 50, but now they seem poised to win 60. If it’s true that the balance of power has truly shifted East, then the first team it’s shifting to is the Detroit Pistons.

Defensively they are the best in the East. Little has changed for Detroit, which allows 91.4 per game. Even with Saunders, who was a heavy user of zone defense in Minnesota, the Pistons’ starters only defend man-to-man, and with a 14-2 record, who can complain? The Pistons can adapt both offensively and defensively to the pace of other teams and play at their level, whether it’s 106 against Golden State or 85 against Portland.

The real surprise is offensively, where Detroit is outscoring its opponents by a league-high 7.9 points. 99.3 PPG would never be a possibility under Larry Brown. Richard Hamilton leads the NBA at 3P%, and Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups make up the No. 2 team in 3-point shooting. The assists column where the Pistons are second in the NBA is also impressive. As we’ve seen in both of their losses, the only real way to beat the Pistons is to beat them early. In a close game, this team does all the little things: take free kicks, hit the clutch jumper, and just go big as you’d expect.

Antonio McDyess is a strong bench player who evens out Rasheed and Ben Wallace when they’re out of the game. Aside from him, Darko’s full bench is pretty slim. Arroyo has passed Lindsay Hunter as backup PG to better participate in Flip Saunders’ offense. Detroit started 19-20 on 01-02, then went to tare and finished 50-32. Last year they started 7-8 and were scoring about 91 per game, then they went to the Finals. Detroit has been a slow-starting team over the past half-decade, but starting this well means it really will finish strong.

With Shaq injured, there’s not much standing in his way in the East. Rarely has there been an NBA team that runs as smoothly on offense and performs even better on defense. The Kobe-Shaq Lakers were the team that drew sellouts and great attendance from visiting home teams. The Detroit Pistons are slowly but surely becoming the number one enemy in the NBA. The Spurs are too fundamental, too solemn to piss off the fans when they win. When you see Rasheed Wallace taunt players after taking a shot in the fourth quarter, you start to hate the Pistons.

Due to the public’s fascination with the Miami Heat, the Piston’s odds of winning the Eastern Conference Championship remain very good in the best sports betting sites and we advise you to take them to the bank.