Spurs Withstand the Pistons Physicality and Sorting Through the Middle of the West

The Zach Lowe Show

The Ringer

Sports, Basketball

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 97 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zach is joined by Michael Pina to break down what they learned from Spurs-Pistons. Then, they power rank the middle of the Western Conference before closing the show with a look at Zion Williamson and saying one nice thing about a team that’s tanking. (0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show! (2:30) Michael Pina joins the show! (3:38) Spurs were able to handle Pistons physicality (10:12) This showed why Detroit will struggle to win a title (22:51) Can teams with no postseason experience win a championship? (36:33) Power ranking the 3-7 seeds in the west (39:26) Have the most faith in the Nuggets (49:55) Minnesota is still dangerous despite their record (55:31) What has gone wrong with Houston? (1:07:54) Luka’s complaining has reached new heights (1:13:38) The State of Zion Williamson (1:28:18) One nice thing about a tanking team Host: Zach Lowe Guest: Michael Pina Producers: Mike Wargon, Jonathan Frias, and Billy Gil Social: Keith Fujimoto This episode is presented by State Farm®️. Dishing the assists you need off the court. State Farm®️ with the Assist. #ULTRACourtside could get you closer to the game! https://michelobultra.com/courtside MICHELOB ULTRA®️ COURTSIDE ’25 to ’26. No Purchase Necessary. Open to US residents 21 plus. Begins on October 1, 2025 and ends on June 30, 2026 Multiple entry periods. See Official Rules at https://michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:36.3	Coming up on the Zacklow Show. The Mets have no one who plays their normal position. Is that a problem? Just kidding. It's a busy week in the NBA. Spurs Pistons lived up to the hype. What a physical game. And Victor Wembeiyama was ready for all of it. Didn't love it. He fell over a lot. He was mad at the rest, but he never snaps.
0:54.9	He always gives it right back to you with some timely threes, some defense. And the Spurs, in a statement win, go on the road and beat the Pistons by 11. Does this game say more about the Pistons or the Spurs? Michael Pina is here to help break down all the fun stuff that happened in that game. And then have the larger discussion that is now hovering around the league of,
1:13.8	you know, both of these teams lack the traditionally requisite playoff experience to be true blue contenders.
1:20.7	Are we worried about that?
1:21.8	Does that apply to these teams?
1:23.2	Who should be more worried about that?
1:25.3	Or is this season just different?
1:27.1	Is the level of parity
1:28.2	in the NBA just different that that sort of precedent no longer applies? We're going to talk
1:33.5	about all that. And then three to seven in the West, kind of a mess. Houston, Denver,
1:39.2	Lakers, wolves, sons, now sons beset with injuries with the Dylan Brooks broken hand, all hovering around
1:45.0	500 in their last 20 to 35 games, depending on which team you look at.
	...

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