~~ The Indianapolis Star ~~

But it offers hope, too.

Through insight and fate, Pistons president Joe Dumars has assembled a team that is chasing history. The 39-6 record they take into tonight's game at Conseco Fieldhouse puts them in the same conversation with the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team that finished an all-time best 72-10.

Am I the only person a little uncomfortable with an Indy writer mentioning that the Pistons could be a blueprint for the Pacers? Welcome to Bizzaro world. - micro


Grind it out
Pistons don't have usual jump, barely put away Iverson-less Sixers
by DANA GAURUDER

PHILADELPHIA - The All-Star break is just two weeks away. From the looks of it, that breather can't come soon enough for the Pistons.

Their energy and intensity levels have dipped noticeably in their last two road games. A matchup against the Philadelphia Sixers without Allen Iverson smelled of a blowout but instead reeked of heavy perspiration. The Pistons won for the 13th time in 14 games, but their 87-80 victory at the Wachovia Center was much too close for comfort.

All the praise is getting me nervous, because it can change so fast. I remember when the Pistons were modeling themselves after the Orlando Magic - who promptly turned their back on the Bo Outlaw model of scrappy underachievers and spiralled downward into Steve Francis hell.

~ The Detroit News ~

It seemed the tank might have been running low when Chauncey Billups yawned during pregame introductions. When the Pacers got 14 offensive rebounds in the first quarter, you knew the teams were playing with differing levels of intensity.

Carlisle says don't cry for me
.... "There will always be challenges with this," he said. "And right now, our challenge is to get healthy. We feel like, if we can get our whole team together, we can make a run and we have to do it with the guys that are available.
Darko Milicic met the team in Indianapolis Saturday. He missed Friday because of a flu-like virus that's running through the team. The latest to be afflicted, media relations man Kevin Grigg.

Carlos Arroyo missed the team flight to Philadelphia. He had to fly commercial and was expected to be fined by the team. He is believed to be the first Piston to draw a disciplinary fine since Richard Hamilton, who missed a flight during the 2004 playoffs.



Before all the injuries, before the trade and before Detroit opened the season with a dead sprint toward history, this was a game that loomed like a heavyweight bout. Instead, it was merely an opportunity for the Indiana Pacers to display the sort of performance they once assumed would be the norm.



Just by playing, Stephen Jackson showed the Pacers the toughness they needed to beat Detroit. Jackson shook off a recent injury that sent him to the hospital to score 20 points and grab seven rebounds, and Indiana upset the rival Pistons 93-85 Saturday night.



INDIANAPOLIS -- With the Detroit Pistons threatening to challenge the record for most regular-season wins in NBA history, and the Indiana Pacers fighting just to make the playoffs, Saturday night's matchup didn't quite have the intrigue the series has the past couple of seasons. That didn't matter, as the Pacers got one of their biggest wins of the season in defeating the Pistons a 93-85.



Prince will withdraw from Olympic team consideration
.... "Who knows if we (the Pistons) go all the way (through the playoff) to June, and a couple of weeks after we finish, this starts up," Prince said. "If you think about playing for a gold medal, of course, you'll be like, `yeah, I'm for that.' You want to represent your country and USA basketball. But, we're trying to win a title every year."

Loss for the weary
Despite absence of Jermaine O'Neal, Pacers upset Pistons
by DANA GAURUDER

INDIANAPOLIS - Better to have a few fresh bodies than a bunch of weary ones.

It's not as snappy a phrase as Fernando's "Better to look good than to feel good," but it aptly described the Pistons' plight Saturday night. They were running on empty playing for the fourth time in fi ve nights in four different cities. Those dead legs gave the depleted Indiana Pacers the opening they needed to sneak past their most heated rival.


Pistons make Carlisle see stars
by DANA GAURUDER

With Billups playing at that level, Carlisle is not surprised by the Pistons' league-leading record. He also believes they are much deeper than many people suspect.

"They don't have a weakness," he said. "One of the weaknesses they don't have is the fact they don't rely completely on one or two players to carry their team. They really have great balance. They have a bench that fits their roster situation very well. When you've got Dale Davis sitting over there, who has played 46 minutes all year, if he was here, he'd have played that in our last game and a half."

No mo Arroyo?
by Ian Cameron

Mitch Lawrence reports in today's New York Daily News that the Pistons may be shopping for a new backup point guard.


“Winners should be rewarded. Losers should be cast aside.”
by Ian Cameron

If current Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy were back with the Knicks–in the Eastern Conference–the Piston starters' chances of being named reserves for the East's All-Star squad would probably be improved by a vote.


No good excuses for this one: Pacers top Pistons
by Ian Cameron

Yes, they were playing their second game of a road back-to-back, but don't accept that as a valid excuse. The Pistons–with their full compliment of players–should always be able to beat a Pacers team without the services of Jermaine O'Neal, Austin Croshere, and Jamal Tinsley, regardless of how tired their legs may be. Instead, despite the best efforts of Rip and Sheed, the Pistons slept their way to a 93-85 loss to the Pacers last night.

Here's ASB's latest thoughts from his blog.










Pistons might be greatest 'team' ever
No band of five has ever played as unselfishly as Saunders' squad
By Mike Celizic

The Super Bowl is gone, but Detroit’s super team is right where it has been for what’s going on three years now — at the Palace in Auburn Hills, home of the Pistons.

This town is crazy about them, as it has been for years and as it should be. So far in the 2005-2006 season, there’s no better team in the NBA. But you get the feeling there’s a definite national respect lag for what this remarkable outfit has been doing, which is merely threatening to match the 72-10 regular-season record set by the 1995-1996 Chicago Jordans.

Take the All Star voting. Detroit is the best team in the league and has one of the best shooters, guard Richard Hamilton, one of the best defensive centers, Ben Wallace, and a point guard, Chauncey Billups, who’s one of the best floor leaders in the game. Yet the fans didn’t vote one Piston to the starting Eastern Conference All Star Team...

Pistons' Milicic Undergoing Long Process Of Maturing
As the Detroit Pistons rush to dispense with the regular season and return to the finals for the third consecutive season, one of their players, Darko Milicic, has been virtually invisible.

Milicic, the No. 2 pick in the 2003 draft, was chosen ahead of players like Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. He entered the weekend averaging 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds in 5.8 minutes and has not been able to break into the Pistons' well-oiled rotation.

Detroit holds the option for his fourth season, and Joe Dumars, the team president, has become more active in trade discussions.

But it is hard to ascertain Milicic's value because he rarely plays. With the team 39-6 entering last night's game at Indiana, the Pistons are in no hurry to make a deal. They made their blockbuster deadline trade for Rasheed Wallace two years ago; other than gaining depth, they need little but salary relief or draft picks.

Milicic, a 7-footer and only 20, is aware of a trade possibility, but Dumars has also turned down offers to develop his talent.

Milicic's agent, Marc Cornstein, explained his client's approach.

"On one hand, he has tremendous loyalty for Joe, for John Hammond, for the management of Detroit," Cornstein said Friday, referring to Hammond, the Pistons' vice president for basketball operations. "They've really been in his corner.

"That being said, it's two and a half years, and like any player, he'd like to play. He's happy as long as it's a situation where he's given the opportunity to play, and I can't see why a team acquiring him would not want to give him that immediately."

Loving themselves, not this game
Today's All-Stars a far cry from days of MJ, Bird, Magic
by Sam Smith

The NBA All-Star starters were named last week, and the full teams will be announced Thursday. There's not much any league can do with all-star games, though at one time the NBA's was by far the best, the most competitive and most fun.

But the announcement of the starters and the skills contests pointed out a big part of the league's problem: The NBA cares, but its players often don't.

and this little nugget (sorry fans, it's all the Darko mention you will find in this GREAT piece on today's players lack of caring for the league)