Alright yeah so the NBA Finals are here and anyone who knows even the smallest bit about the NBA knew it was going to be Cavs vs Warriors. I have said it before and I will say it again- I am not a giant NBA fan by any stretch of the imagination but I will watch the Finals and am a die hard bandwagon Pistons fan.

If the Pistons are good, I’m into the Pistons and watch the NBA. If they Pistons are the perennial 9-seed like they have been lately, I tend to not tune in.

But fear not- I am always on the lookout for Pistons representation on the big stage, and last night for game one of the NBA Finals with millions tuning in, tweeting, and sharing their thoughts on the game, I found our Pistons featured THREE times.

1. Very obvious, our 2004 Finals MVP and forever Mr. Big Shot Chauncey Ba-Ba-Ba-Billups is a studio analyst on ABC/ESPN for the games. That was an easy one and may get overlooked, but it’s kinda nice knowing whenever someone sees Chauncey breaking down an NBA Finals game they can look at him and say “He was a Champion. He was an MVP. And he did it with a roster of NOBODIES in Detroit. They were a hell of a team.” Maybe it’s just me but I like the little reminder up there that Detroit has victorious hoops history and the league and its fans best not forget.

Yes I know that photo is not from last night. I’m just trying to give you a visual break from the writing and I thought that would be a decent one. Maybe not. Idk.

2. Darren Rovell tweeted out a picture of two ABSOLUTE LEGENDS who attended Game 1 last night:

“Someone should tell these guys who is playing tonight.” 

Someone should tell you to shut the fuck up Darren Rovell and let these absolute mythological badass bossmen live their god damn lives and do whatever the fuck they please. Dual Grant Hill jerseys. One, the 90’s early 2000’s teal. The other, the OG Kush fire flames red-white & blue. Both with the old school Adidas logo. Toss in some perfectly matching mid-calf socks, a big face Shinola, a couple a pairs of sunglasses and a fat ass beard and boy oh boy do you have a beautiful scene. Great job reppin’ the city all the way in the West Coast boys. Really spectacular work.

3. And number three. The first two were pretty great and number three is just an absolute kick to the dick. It was Paul George’s Gatorade commercial where he knocks down the game winning shock with SUPREME confidence as time expires. Where are the Pistons involved you ask? Oh. We’ll they’re the losing team in the commercial. Take a look.

The once Mighty Pistons, who went to 6 straight Eastern Conference Finals, 2 NBA Finals, and won 1 championship from 2001-2008 have now been resorted to the losing team in a Paul George (a player many thought the Pistons would trade for this season) Smooth Finish commercial. Nothing says “boy your franchise has fell THE FUCK off” quite like being represented by a bunch of actors as the losing squad to your old rival that you defeated multiple times in the playoffs in a commercial entitled Smooth Finish. Smooth was one of Chauncey’s nicknames, so let the irony rain down on us.

But I guess Indiana can have the commercial, we’ll always have this:

So yeah, yanno what they say, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. #Stones 🍾

– Frank