The NBA's leader in rebounds and double-doubles has emerged as a true force this season
POSTED: Mar 25, 2016 10:58 AM ET
No matter how it ends, this season will go down as the true breakout year forAndre Drummond.
Whether it ends with the Pistons crashing the Eastern Conference playoff partyor with coach Stan Van Gundy's team coming close, Drummond's position as one of the league's best big men (dinosaurs in this day and age) will be solidified.
In February, he earned the first of what could and should be many All-Star nods. Drummond will finish this season as the NBA leader in rebounds (14.9) anddouble-doubles (59). If he can lift the Pistons into the playoffs, it'll punctuate his arrival.
He's surging at the perfect time for a Pistons team that has won four straight games as they host the Charlotte Hornets tonight (7:30 ET, NBA TV), a game critical to their playoff chances.
The Pistons are 38-34 and 1½ games ahead of their Central Division rival, Chicago, for No. 8 and trail the No. 7 Indiana Pacers by ½-game.
They play six of their final 10 games at the The Palace of Auburn Hills, including four straight starting tonight. The table is set for them to end the franchise's six-season playoff drought, if they can keep the momentum going.
"You're going to have to finish this up really strong against very good competition to get in," Van Gundy said. "The good part is, if you do, you'll get in. If we get in, we'll get in playing really good basketball, because there is no other way to do this."
There's no way to do it without yeoman's work from Drummond. They need him to continue to dominate around the basket on both ends of the floor the way he has recently.
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