The Detroit Pistons entered March with a comfortable five-game lead atop the Eastern Conference standings.

A week-and-a-half later, that cushion has been cut in half.

Detroit, the East leader since early November, has lost four straight, bringing the 43-41 Celtics to within 2 1/2 games of first place in the conference.

Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff called the slide — which continued Sunday with a 121-100 loss to Miami in which his team trailed by as many as 29 points — “a little bit of a rut” and said he isn’t focused on the newly fortified challenger nipping at their heels.

“Boston is obviously a good team, but we’re not concerned about Boston,” Bickerstaff told reporters after the loss to the Heat. “Our biggest concern is making sure that we’re doing what we need to do to go out and be as good as we possibly can. We’ve got plenty of time to figure it out, and we will.”

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While Detroit has slipped, Boston has won 13 of its last 17, with all but one of those wins coming by double digits. The Celtics are 2-0 since superstar Jayson Tatum returned from Achilles surgery, including a 109-98 result against another East contender, the Cleveland Cavaliers, on Sunday.

Tatum has been on a minutes restriction — he logged 27 in each of his first two games back — and still is working his way back to peak form. But he looked comfortable and confident during his double-double against the Dallas Mavericks and 20-point showing against the Cavs, making an immediate impact as a scorer, passer and rebounder after a nearly 10-month layoff.

Having Tatum back raises the ceiling of a Celtics team that already looked like one of the NBA’s best without him. Case in point: DraftKings Sportsbook now has Boston as the favorite to win the East (+170), with +550 championship odds that trail only Oklahoma City’s +140.

Will the Celtics be able to leapfrog the Pistons over their final 18 regular-season games and secure the No. 1 seed? Based on the teams’ recent track records, it’s certainly possible. But Detroit has the benefit of a much more favorable remaining schedule — the seventh-easiest in the league, per Tankathon’s strength of schedule calculations.

Boston’s remaining schedule is the third-toughest, and that’s without factoring in that the 32-33 Charlotte Hornets have been much better than their record suggests since the start of 2026. The Hornets handed the Celtics their largest loss of the season last Wednesday (118-89 at TD Garden), and the teams will play twice more before the end of the season.

The Celtics also have two matchups still to come against the defending champion Thunder, including one this Thursday in OKC. That showdown closes out a marquee three-game road trip that began Sunday in Cleveland and continues Tuesday in San Antonio.

The Thunder, who beat Boston twice last season, boast the NBA’s best record and net rating. The Spurs sit second in the overall standings and rank third in net rating. The Celtics are fourth and second, respectively.