AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Detroit Pistons changed ownership, revamped their front office, went through a handful of head coaches and completely overhauled their roster.

All those moves finally paid off on Friday.

Reggie Jackson poured in 39 points, one shy of his career high, and the Pistons clinched their first playoff berth in seven seasons by topping the Washington Wizards 112-99 at The Palace.

Tobias Harris had 17 points and pulled down nine rebounds for Detroit (43-37), which gave away a 19-point lead but recovered to end the longest playoff drought in the Eastern Conference.

"It's huge for us, it's huge for our organization," said coach and team president Stan Van Gundy, the architect of the turnaround. "We've got four starters who have never been there. It's a great milestone for them to get in. Obviously, we hope this is just the start of bigger things to come but you've got to start somewhere and this is it."

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope tossed in 14 points and Marcus Morris contributed 13 for the Pistons, who will make their first postseason appearance since the 2008-09 season.

"Like I told Stan, I'm happy he brought me here to be a part of something like this," said Morris, who was acquired in an offseason trade from Phoenix last July.

Jackson, the only Pistons starter with postseason experience, carried them past the final hurdle. The former Oklahoma City backup scored 14 first-quarter points, then finished off the Wizards with 14 more in the fourth.

"(With OKC) we always knew we'd be there," Jackson said. "Right now, we're a young team. We're growing together. We've got a nice mixture of very young (players) and we've got some veterans who've been there. We're just trying to figure this thing out. I'm just happy with the way we've battled the whole season and hopefully, this isn't the end for us."

All-Star Andre Drummond, who scored his 4,000th career point, was limited to eight points and six rebounds. He sat out the final 8:51 because of his free throw shooting woes.

"He's really frustrated with the whole free throw thing and coming out of games," Van Gundy said. "It's all about winning and he has to understand that."

Markieff Morris' 29 points led the Wizards (38-41), who were eliminated from playoff contention. Bradley Beal supplied 25 points for Washington, which played without All-Star point guard John Wall. He sat out for the second straight night with a sore right knee.

"We were without our best player and their best player stepped up for them," Markieff Morris said.

Missing the postseason could cost head coach Randy Wittman his job. Washington reached the second round last season.

"It's disappointing when you don't get to where you think you're capable of getting," he said. "You've got to learn from it. I don't think we always take every game like it's the last one or an important one."

Marcus Morris scored six points in a 39-second span, capping off a 13-4 Pistons spurt that gave them an 81-65 lead midway through the third quarter.

Marcus' brother carried the Wizards back in the game.

Markieff Morris, who had five first-half points, scored 20 in the quarter. He capped off his flurry with a heave beyond midcourt that swished through as the buzzer sounded to cut Detroit's advantage to 86-84.

Markieff's free throws in the opening minute of the fourth tied it. His dunk with 10:04 left put Washington on top 89-88.

Jackson reached the 30-point mark with two free throws to give Detroit a 100-94 lead halfway through the fourth. Jackson's three-point play with 2:45 remaining made it 103-96 and his 3-pointer 33 seconds later put the game away.

NOTES: Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy met with rookie SF Stanley Johnson after pulling the lottery pick from the rotation prior to the last game. Johnson shot 29 percent from the field in 14 games after returning from a shoulder injury. "Is it the injury? Did he hit the (rookie) wall? I don't know," Van Gundy said. "I'm not really trying to figure out why." ... The Pistons have their highest win total since the 2007-08 season when they won 59 games. ... C Andre Drummond (66) is the second Pistons' player to lead the league in double-doubles. G Isiah Thomas had the most double-doubles (65) in 1984-85. ... The Wizards won the previous three meetings by an average of 19 points. ... Washington PG John Wall is the first player since Steve Nash in 2010-11 to have at least 50 10-assist games in a single season.