We just form a fucking wall

This is the greatest picture ever taken

Stan Van Gundy's FCC blunder will be the most remembered moment of the Pistons' last-second win against the San Antonio Spurs, moreso than Brandon Jennings' game winning shot. Add it to the growing list of Van Gundy-isms: the Diet Coke, the master of panic, the fucking wall. The sound bite will live on; the poetry will be lost. Forming a human wall is symbolic. There's a unity and strength behind a wall, something that Van Gundy didn't intend when he said it, but will stand as this team's rallying cry, at least amongst the hashtagging masses. Someone will sell "We just form a fucking wall" t-shirts by the afternoon.

There was a moment a few games after the Pistons released Josh Smith that typifies the difference in the team. Brandon Jennings was bringing the ball into the halfcourt and made an uncharacteristic turnover. The mistake didn't generate a fast break, so the Pistons sauntered back on defense. As they were crossing half court, Greg Monroe dapped Jennings as if to say, "Don't worry about it. We'll score the next time we have the ball."

There has been much written about the loss of Josh Smith from the Pistons' roster. Articles typically fall in one of two categories: the Pistons' sudden resurgence can realistically be attributed to a weak schedule and the emergence of Jodie Meeks as a consistent offensive threat, or Josh Smith was poison. I began writing about the Pistons because I genuinely like this collection of players. KCP is my favorite NBA player since I fell in love with the 2006 Denver Nuggets' Allen Iverson-led starting five (Iverson-JR Smith-Carmelo-Kenyon Martin-Marcus Camby, the best alley-oop lineup the NBA has ever seen). Andre Drummond is Andre Drummond, and that's a lot of fun. Will Bynum, a member of the team when this blog started, was always a fun microwave option.

Then the Pistons signed Brandon Jennings, a player best known for a game early in his rookie season and his endless Drew League highlights. Josh Smith came too. And I genuinely enjoyed watching them play, the former more than the latter. This season, Stan Van Gundy reignited my interest in Xs and Os that died shortly after John Kuester took the reins of the team last season. SVG made the best of a bad situation, turning Smith into a passing force and centering the offense on his ability to bend defenses. And I fought for Smith, because he's not a bad person and he's not a terrible basketball player. After a 6-0 streak following his dismissal, though, there are no arguments to be made. Smith was a cancer to this team, perhaps through no fault of his own other than taking the shots that he thought he could hit and would help the team. Or maybe he caused significant friction in the locker room. I imagine rumors leak out in the years to come, or Jalen Rose will let some insider information slip during a Pop the Truck podcast. Regardless, one thing is certain: the Pistons now hold the longest active winning streak in the NBA and are not a fluke.

The Pistons are replete with talent. They were last year as well, making the results disappointing, though not surprising given the team's leadership. The promise of Stan Van Gundy comes from his system and its replicability across talent and competition levels. One of the stark differences in the Pistons since the removal of Smith has been the tendency to let the system run the offense, rather than calling plays. Throughout most of the season, the Pistons came down the floor, got into a specific set--usually called by SVG--and ran that play. Van Gundy needed to calls plays in this manner to avoid Smith going rogue. He clearly felt uncomfortable letting Smith loose in the offense. Without Smith, the team can run SVG's capitol-s System, the 4-out, 1-in (or thereabout) schemes that made Dwight Howard a world beater. Look no further than Drummond's numbers throughout the last few games for proof of this system's success.

From here, the Pistons can only get better. With a young core of players reinvigorated by the loss of Smith and a top-flight coach, the Pistons making the playoffs feels assured, barring injury. It's hard to watch the Pistons and not see where this team can go: Drummond realizing his potential, KCP developing into a legit 3&D player, Monroe occasionally hitting a hook shot, Jennings turning in the best season of his career, Meeks and Butler coming off the bench to add an offensive spark, Jonas Jerebko (of all people) looking like a sustainably functional player, and the league's best victory cigar in Joel Anthony's 3.6 blocks per 36 minutes. I've been saying it for days: when the Pistons beat the Spurs, people will have to pay attention. Now that they have, it's exciting to see where they'll go.