Lindsey v. Carlos: Six v. a half-dozen
by Ian Cameron

So Lindsey Hunter is back, and the Pistons are hoping that he can give Chauncey the rest that Carlos Arroyo was apparently unable to.

The knock on Arroyo–he of the exceptional ball-handling and 'And 1' passing style–is that he is limited defensively. And despite his proven ability to distribute the ball (he's still averaging over 10 assists per 48), he doesn't have the jumper or finishing skills to make his drives as effective as you'd like.

~~ Detroit Bad Boys ~~

So much for that wake-up call: Hawks (?!) top Pistons
by Ian Cameron

Being the consummate homer, I didn't want to admit this, but here goes. The Pistons are not the clear-cut best team in the NBA anymore. Sure, they were atop their game–and the league–for the first half of the season, but now, reality is setting in and/or the Mavs and Spurs are stepping up.

[click to read more...]

Pistons' Billups to participate in 3-Point Shootout
The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Chauncey Billups of the Detroit Pistons is headed to Houston for the NBA All-Star Weekend, even if he isn't named to the Eastern Conference team.

Billups is one of six players scheduled to participate in the league's 20th annual 3-point shootout on Feb. 18 at the Toyota Center.

Also see

Denver Post Article

Chauncey is from Park Hill, a Denver Colorado neighborhood.




Mahoney on Basketball: Should all Pistons starters be All-Stars?
by Brian Mahoney (AP)

Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders is going to the All-Star game. So how many of his players will join him?

The reserves for the Feb. 19 game in Houston will be revealed Thursday, and some people think every Detroit starter should get chosen - a reward for helping the Pistons roll to the NBA's best record.

The Pistons certainly wouldn't object.

Pistons sink Clippers
by Matt Watson

For a few moments on Wednesday night, Pistons fans were left wondering if the season's first losing streak would stretch to three games. Elton Brand scored nearly as many points in the first quarter (17) as the Pistons (18), giving the Clippers a seven-point cushion entering the second quarter. But Detroit outscored L.A. 30-15 in the second, and never trailed again for the rest of the game.


NY Daily News: Chauncey, Rip, and Ben are All-Stars
by Ian Cameron

According to the NY Daily News, Chauncey, Rip and Ben will be named to the Eastern Conference All Star squad when reserves are announced tomorrow. Still no word yet on whether Sheed will replace injured Jermaine O'Neal in the lineup; check it out:




Clippers' Hack-A-Ben strategy fails -- again
by KRISTA LATHAM

After two meetings with the revived Los Angeles Clippers this season, one thing is certain.

Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy isn't too proud to use a Hack-A-Ben strategy if the game is on the line in the fourth quarter.


PISTONS CORNER: Report: 3 starters will be All-Stars
by KRISTA LATHAM

The official NBA All-Star reserve voting results are announced tonight, but Wednesday, the rumors started flying.

The New York Daily News, quoting an anonymous league source, reported that Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Ben Wallace were all voted in. The source didn't know whether power forward Rasheed Wallace would get onto the team via commissioner David Stern's extra pick as the fill-in for injured starter Jermaine O'Neal.




Detroit Ends Losing Streak With Clipper Defeat
Players remain upbeat after ending a successful 4-2 trip with a 97-87 defeat at Detroit.
by Jason Reid

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- It wasn't the closing act the Clippers wanted for a winning trip, which ended here Wednesday night in a 97-87 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

The Clippers said a victory against the formidable Pistons would have provided the capper to a trip among the best in franchise history, and helped in their efforts to prove they're for real.




Clippers lose 97-87
by ART THOMPSON III

AUBURN HILLS, MICH. – The two-time NBA finalist Detroit Pistons were in dire pursuit of a victory Wednesday.

The Clippers' six-game trip ended at The Palace of Auburn Hills as the Pistons snapped the Clippers' four-game winning streak with a 97-87 victory.


Pistons back on track, grab 40th victory
Two-game losing skid is history as Detroit halts the Clippers' four-game win streak.
by Chris McCosky

AUBURN HILLS -- The All-Star break -- any kind of break, for that matter -- can't get here soon enough for the Pistons.

Completing their fourth set of back-to-back games in the last three weeks, the Pistons had just enough to thwart a red-hot Clippers team, 97-87, Wednesday night.


Pistons lineup might make All-Star team
Four Eastern coaches, including Larry Brown, say they'll vote to add Detroit's starting five.
by Chris McCosky

AUBURN HILLS -- Pistons coach Flip Saunders hasn't canvassed his coaching brethren, but he has a feeling he will be coaching almost his entire starting five in the All-Star game on Sunday, Feb. 19.

"From talking to coaches, I think we have a good chance to get three and quite possibly four players on the team," he said. "A lot of them have said they were going to vote for all five of our players. To get four or even three players selected when none made it on the fan voting is unbelievable."


Win Pistons tickets

Be your sweetheart's prince on Valentine's Day. Enter to win four tickets to the Pistons-Nets game Feb. 14 and four Tayshaun Prince jerseys.



Prince points the way in Pistons victory, but Dunleavy shoves them down the road
by Danny Knobler

AUBURN HILLS -- Another sluggish night. Another game where the Detroit Pistons were struggling to put away an injury-weakened team.

Tayshaun Prince came to the rescue. So did Mike Dunleavy.

Mike Dunleavy?


Pistons await All-Star announcement
by Danny Knobler

AUBURN HILLS -- They haven't always looked like All-Stars for the last week, but a 40-8 record tells you the Detroit Pistons have plenty of All-Stars this season. Exactly how many they'll find out tonight, when the NBA announces the full teams on TNT's pregame show before the Miami-Dallas game.

The Pistons expect to have at least three players named to the team for the Feb. 19 game in Houston, and maybe more than that.

"We've had a lot of coaches that said they would vote for five,'' coach Flip Saunders said, before Wednesday's 97-87 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. "Even if three make it, without anyone voted in by the fans, that would be pretty unbelievable.''



Pistons slip Clips
Detroit manages to avoid three-game skid
by BILL ROOSE

AUBURN HILLS - Early on, it appeared the Pistons' season-high losing streak would get bumped to three straight.

But how could this be?

After all, the Pistons were hosting the Los Angeles Clippers, one of the worst franchises in the history of professional sports, right?

Not so easy anymore.

DIME magazine — cheap!

Dime Magazine is selling one-year subscriptions for just 81 cents , apparently in honor of that one game that everyone talked about last month where Mamba had two assists.


NY Post: Four Piston All-Stars
by Ian Cameron

Not to be outdone by the NY Daily News, the NY Post's Peter Vecsey has revealed the entire Eastern Conference All-Star lineup ahead of today's announcement. Piston fans will be happy to know that in addition to Chauncey, Rip, and Ben, Rasheed Wallace (whom Chauncey calls the team's MVP) has also made the squad.

Note to Lurkers. The terrible mind that is Roscoe is concocting more hoops for non-posting members to jump through to get their daily news fix. Why not start posting today and save us all the drama? We want you to participate (it keeps the site going) and you want the news, so compromise is in order... You can start by introducing yourself here.

Pistons could use some kind of boost
By Pat Caputo

Tired - that's the first impression the Pistons presented Wednesday.

They've hit the wall. The dog days of February are their demon. Forget 70 wins. Just getting it back together and maintaining a stranglehold on home-court advantage throughout the playoffs is the adjusted, more realistic and necessary goal.

That's why their 97-87 victory over the improved Clippers, although hardly scintillating, was nonetheless important.

It didn't matter how or against what team or where - the Pistons needed a win.

Pistons will have four All-Stars
Billups, Hamilton and Wallaces are selected as reserves for game in Houston on Feb. 19.
By Chris McCosky

Talk about your dream team. When Flip Saunders goes to his bench during the All-Star game in Houston on Feb. 19, he will be able to summon four of his own players.

Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton were selected as Eastern Conference reserves by a coaches' vote.

Boston's Paul Pierce, Toronto's Chris Bosh and New Jersey's Vince Carter were also selected.

Saunders said he will play all four together.

"It's only fitting that the first time those guys step on the floor, they step on the floor together," Saunders said.

Pistons' hurricane relief: I do
Most people are nervous on their wedding day, but Denis Davis and Courtey Green probably will have a few more butterflies than most when they tie the knot Tuesday on Valentine's Day.

The two will exchange vows before more than 19,000 at halftime of the Pistons-Nets game at The Palace.

Davis, 28, who grew up in Taylor, and Green, 26, were victims of Hurricane Katrina and lost everything in their Biloxi, Miss.-area home, including everything for their upcoming wedding, Pistons.com reported.



NBA names two guards, Wallaces as East reserves
By Krista Latham

Chauncey Billups was the point guard who shot too much, who couldn't run a team and who bounced through four other NBA teams before he found stability and respect.

Now he has respect at the highest level. He's an All-Star.

Richard Hamilton was the shooting guard deemed too skinny and too soft to withstand the brute physicality of the NBA. Then his childhood idol, Michael Jordan, traded him, the ultimate dishonor.

Now, he's an All-Star, too.

For those two Pistons -- and the Wallaces -- Thursday was a day of honor, as the NBA named Billups, Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace as reserves on the Eastern Conference All-Star team.



By Danny Knobler

Perhaps the fans didn't notice, but the coaches sure did.

The Detroit Pistons, shut out in fan voting for the NBA All-Star Game starting lineup, got their reward for a 40-8 record Thursday, when four of the five Piston starters were named as Eastern Conference All-Star reserves. Coaches in each conference voted for the seven available reserve spots.

Chauncey Billups will be an All-Star for the first time, as will Richard Hamilton. Ben Wallace will go for the fourth time and Rasheed Wallace for the third (first as a Piston). Only Tayshaun Prince was left out, and there's still a chance he could be named by commissioner David Stern as an injury replacement for Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal.



By Dana Gauruder

Even when the Pistons finally get individual recognition, the team concept comes first. Upon entering this season's All-Star Game for the Eastern Conference on Feb. 19, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups will walk onto the court at Houston's Toyota Center as a unit.

"It's only fitting that the first time those guys step on the floor," coach Flip Saunders said, "they step on the floor together."

In a display of respect and admiration for the Pistons' current 40-8 record and consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, the conference coaches selected fourfifths of Detroit's starting unit as All-Star reserves. It's the first time in franchise history that four of its players have made the All-Star team in the same season. The results of the coaches' balloting were revealed Thursday evening.



Pistons.com chose January's nominees, and you decide who wins!
Pistons fans can vote on the player, sub and photo of the month.



By Tim Povtac

The Detroit Pistons aren't going to win 70 games -- the magical number that would assure a lofty place among the greatest teams in history -- but they aren't going to miss by too much, either.

Don't let this latest little blip spoil the show.

None of the Pistons (40-8) were voted by the fans onto the starting lineup of the NBA's Eastern Conference all-star team, but four of their starters became all-star reserves Thursday because the league coaches certainly recognize what they have done.

"They know what it takes to win,'' said Magic Coach Brian Hill, whose team is struggling. "They know what's important.''

Detroit may have lost three of its past six games, effectively silencing that 70-win talk, but it easily remains the best team in the East and still has a better record than any West team.

Hill may return this weekend
By Brian Schmitz

Orlando Magic forward Grant Hill, who has missed the past 12 games, could play this weekend, according to Assistant General Manager Otis Smith.

Hill said he was "close, real close.''

The Magic face the Detroit Pistons on Friday night in Orlando and the Celtics in Boston on Sunday.

Hill is in his second rehab stint since undergoing sports hernia surgery Oct. 31.



By Tony Mejia

Detroit has certainly been impressive, but four All-Star spots is just excessive.

I apologize for channeling the ghost of Johnny Cochran, but it's kind of fitting, as this reaction piece to the NBA All-Star reserves is going to deal with making a case -- a case for the snubbed.

The premise: Though the Pistons' 40-8 start is the top story in the league this season, it's not exactly unprecedented.

How about the teams just a couple of games behind the Pistons this year? San Antonio and Dallas are both 38-10. How many players did the Spurs land? Two. Tony Parker and Duncan. The Mavs? Just Dirk Nowitzki.

Pistons firing on all cylinders this season
by Tim Povtak

The Detroit Pistons aren't going to win 70 games -- the magical number that would assure a lofty place among the greatest teams in history -- but they aren't going to miss by too much, either.

Don't let this latest little blip spoil the show



Four plus Flip going to Houston
by Matt Watson

Just as Peter Vecsey reported earlier, four Pistons were named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team as reserves. Ben Wallace is making his fourth trip, Rasheed Wallace his third, and Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton are going for the first time.

Rip Hamilton :: Motor City Motivation
by LANG WHITAKER

It’s not so much the numbers. Even though he was averaging a career- high 21.8 points on better than 50 percent shooting through early January, what really makes Richard “Rip” Hamilton a key piston in the Pistons’ drive for a third-straight NBA Finals appearance is how he goes about compiling those figures.

His relentless running and better-than-you-thought range makes him Detroit’s most consistent midrange and perimeter threat, and gives Chauncey, Tayshaun, Big Ben and Sheed that bridge between the interior and the arc.