[NBA.com]

Hamilton, Prince rally Pistons past Bucks
Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince scored 25 points apiece and Rasheed Wallace added 21 and 10 rebounds as the Pistons rallied from an 18-point third quarter deficit to post a 112-105 triumph over the Bucks, who wasted a 37-point performance by Michael Redd. [Video highlights included]

Balanced attack leads Patriots past TBirds
Detroit Pistons rookie Amir Johnson scored 21 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds and three steals, to lead the Fayetteville Patriots to a 106-89 win over the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in NBA Development League action at the Crown Coliseum Friday night. Five Patriots hit in double figures as Fayetteville improved to 15-30. Albuquerque dropped to 23-21 .... Johnson's Detroit teammate Alex Acker added 20. [Amir Johnson picture here]

[Detroit News - Associated Press report]

McDyess rallies Pistons past Bucks
After trailing 65-47 in the third quarter, the Pistons tied the game at 85 early in the fourth on Antonio McDyess' jumper, then took their first lead of the game moments later. McDyess added four more points as Detroit went up 100-92 with 4:35 left.

"They went to him four or five times in a row, and when he makes that jump shot, it opens up everything else for them," Milwaukee coach Terry Stotts said. "He was effective and they took advantage." McDyess finished with 10 of his 18 points in the fourth.

[Detroit Free Press]

HE'S IN! Dumars to get Hall of Fame nod
A team source confirmed Friday night that Dumars’ name is included in the 2006 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class, which will be formally announced Monday in Indianapolis during Final Four festivities.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Motor City Mettle: Detroit shows poise in comeback
Said guard Mo Williams: "We made them earn it tonight. I'll guarantee you they're tired. But they turned it up and made it a game on their home court. They picked it up and made some plays. They're a championship-caliber team.

"They're poised. They know what they want to do. They been in situations before and we're still learning. We only play a few big games a year. It's ironic how at the end of the game, who always hits the big shot? They know what they want to do and they know how to get it."

[Detroit Bad Boys]

More Big Ben contract talk
More of the same regarding Ben's imminent resigning, from Chris Sheridan's ESPN chat today. [Note: you can also see a write-up on Sheridan's chat and a larger story about sports agents in general at the excellent truehoop.com.]

One more: a great recap of Championship #2
I know we've been bombarding you with nostalgia this week, but allow me to provide you with one more link. The Basketball Hall of Fame has an amazing recap of the Pistons 1989-1990 season.

[Bucks Diary]

Pretty good isn't good enough for Bucks
At power forward Rasheed Wallace manhandled rookie Andrew Bogut. At times it appeared Wallace was playing defense against Bogut with a tennis racket in his right hand. Bogut couldn't shoot over him, and wasn't really creative when it came to conjuring some alternative approaches. Thus, he was overwhelmed. Wallace stamped "Return to Sender" on several of Bogut's rather weak shooting efforts. Joe Smith couldn't correct the situation either, as he was completely outplayed by Pistons reserve Antonio McDyess. At the center position, Jamaal Magliore had another awful game, and Dan Gadzuric was no factor at all.

Bogut, Wallace and Detroit's "Bad Boys"
To set the record straight with the authors of the DetroitBadBoys blog, in a recent post I did not compare Bogut in anyway to the present day Rasheed Wallace. They are not comparable, obviously.

[Detroit News]

Pistons put Bucks back in their place
The Milwaukee Bucks aren't exactly the second coming of Larry Bird's Celtics or Michael Jordan's Bulls. But they are still a decent NBA team - one that will almost certainly find themselves in the Eastern Conference playoffs in a few weeks.

That means the Detroit Pistons had to stay awake for almost two entire quarters to beat them.

Dumars immortalized as Hall of Famer
"It is long overdue because of what Joe has meant to the game, and I'm not talking about on the court," Chauncey Billups said. "He wasn't just important to Detroit, he was important to the whole league. People with his class don't come around very often."

NBA Notebook
Maybe it's because the reward is a first-round matchup with the Detroit Pistons, but nobody seems to want the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Philadelphia 76ers are in eighth place, but have done little lately to strengthen their spot. Then again they haven't needed to, because the teams chasing them haven't capitalized.

[Detroit Free Press]

Pistons wake up in 4th
Bucks guard Michael Redd scored 41 points the last time he visited the Palace this season, and he wasted no time reestablishing that pace. He finished with 37 points, scoring 24 in the first half.

"There's nobody else in the game who shoots the ball like that," said Tayshaun Prince, who led the Pistons with 25 points and three blocks. "Off-balance and the ball's not hitting any rim. Sometimes when he shoots it, you don't even want to look at the rim because it'll go in."

Pistons Corner: Bell ringing in NBA
Bell has started five games this season, filling in for injured starter T.J. Ford, who could return to the starting lineup tonight. But whatever his minutes -- he's averaged 21 this season -- Bell is happy to take them.

[Booth Newspapers/MLive.com]

With eye on playoffs, Pistons seek improvement
"With us, we're just trying to keep on improving so that we're at the top of our game come playoff time," said Antonio McDyess. "That's what we're concerned about, just trying to keep on getting better."

Blakely radio notes: Bench, rebounding keys to playoff run
ASB: I honestly think that the Mavericks would be a much tougher matchup in the Finals. If the Pistons meet the Spurs, I think the Pistons win that series regardless of whether they have home court or not. In my opinion, Detroit is better on both sides of the ball.

Dyess Shines In Pistons Win Against Bucks *VIDEO*

It was an uphill battle at Palace last night. The Bucks started the game on a 15-0 run forcing the Pistons to play from behind most of the game. Michael Redd was on fire hitting almost everything he threw up, but despite his 37 point the Pistons pulled it out in the fourth quarter to beat the Bucks 112-105.



Report: Joe Dumars is a Hall of Famer

We'll deal with last night's schizophrenic win over the Milwaukee Bucks later, but at the moment we can't think of anything more important to Piston fans than Joe Dumars being named to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The good news was reported yesterday in the Detroit News and reiterated by George Blaha and Bill [...]

Bogut-Sheed II

A rebuttal of sorts from the Milwaukee Bucks Diary:
To set the record straight with the authors of the DetroitBadBoys blog, in a recent post I did not compare Bogut in anyway to the present day Rasheed Wallace. They are not comparable, obviously. I don't think the post even implied that they were, to be [...]

Pistons poach Bucks in the fourth

Just like the last time the Pistons played the Bucks, Michael Redd put on a show Friday night, putting the Bucks in position to win until the Pistons used their veteran savvy to pull out a last-minute victory. Redd, who previously scored a career-high 42 points in his last game against Detroit, scored 37 on [...]

[Detroit News]

Dumars joins game's greats
Joe Dumars is going to Springfield, Mass., to be immortalized. Dumars, the Pistons' president, has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Pistons Notebook: Billups: It's not about the MVP
The truth is, if Billups was able to vote for the MVP, he might pick Nash. "If it's not going to be me, it has to be him," Billups said. "He makes everybody on his team better. That's what the MVP award should be about. They have a defensive player of the year award, right? Well, they should have an offensive player of the year award, too, and a separate award for MVP."

[Detroit Free Press]

Dumars headed to the Hall
A team source confirmed Friday night that Dumars' name is included in the 2006 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class, which will be formally announced Monday in Indianapolis during Final Four festivities.

Pistons Corner: Bell ringing in NBA
Flint native Bell rolled into the Palace on Friday night as a starting point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks. And he knew how to make an entrance. Bell scored 18 points, hauled in 10 rebounds and threw 13 assists in a Bucks victory Tuesday.

[Booth Newspapers/MLive.com]

Pistons won't let high-scoring Suns dictate play
One would never confuse driving around a few blocks in the neighborhood with racing in the Indianapolis 500. So you can understand why the Detroit Pistons aren't the least bit delusional about the fact that, despite playing recently against high-scoring teams like Dallas and Milwaukee, those experiences will pale in comparison to what they have to contend with today against the Phoenix Suns.

Dumars selected to Hall of Fame
"Joe is a one of the classiest guys you'll ever meet," said ex-NBA and Michigan State star Steve Smith, a Detroit native. "He's always striving for greatness, and for him, it really doesn't matter who gets the credit. Just as long as the job gets done."

Pistons Weblog: A. Sherrod Blakely
Joe Dumars being elected to the Hall of Fame is a bit of a surprise. It shows that the people who are voting on this stuff are actually looking for more than how many points and assists a player tallies in his career.

Full-Court Press: Bucks marvel at Pistons' poise
"That's the frustrating thing," Redd said. "We've played them tough every game and just come up short. I think it's their championship experience and getting tougher down the stretch that hurts us."

[Arizona Republic]

Suns lack Pistons' unity, rings
San Antonio may be the bar that the Suns aspire to reach, but Detroit's is set just as high.

"You're never going to find a starting five that's so close and knows each other on and off the court as much as these guys," said McDyess, who is averaging 12.1 points and 7.5 rebounds off the bench in the past 11 games. "We've got such a family atmosphere around here and everyone is so close that it makes you want to go out and play hard. It's so easy when you're on the court and know each other like we do."

[NBA.com]

Thunderbirds take down Patriots
The Albuquerque Thunderbirds rode a 15-3 third-quarter spurt – along with an impressive performance by point guard Tierre Brown – to break open a close contest and beat the Fayetteville Patriots, 103-88, in D-League action at the Crown Coliseum Saturday night .... [Alex] Acker led all scorers with a professional career-high 31. [Amir Johnson 13 points on 4-5 FG shooting, 4 rebounds, 6 turnovers]

[Need4Sheed]

Pistons Read To Achieve

The Pistons teamed up with Fox 2 Detroit, Rock Financial and others for The Read to Achieve book donation drive for students in need of proper literacy resources. The Palace collected books at Pistons home games in the month of March. For more information on how you can help click here. Here is the Fox 2 TV commercial for the program featuring Lindsey Hunter and Richard Hamilton.

[Detroit Bad Boys]

Quotes about Joe Dumars

Joe Dumars is often a man of few words, at least when it comes to talking about his own ability or accomplishments. It's a testament to his character, however, that so many other people are willing to speak about him. Here are some of the words used to describe him from the first wave of [...]

[Detroit Bad Boys]

Pistons stare directly at the Suns early, still see the bucket late

I've decided to do a service to sports writers covering the Pistons by providing a generic introduction that apparently can in used almost every game recap the rest of the way:
The Pistons allowed the hot-shooting [insert opponent here] to take a commanding lead on [insert day of game], at one point trailing by as [...]

[CBS Sportsline]

Pistons storm past Suns to clinch East's No. 1 seed
"This is the third of our five steps, but this one might be the most important of the first four, because of the 2-2-1-1-1 format in the conference finals," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said.

.... Detroit expects to be without Rasheed Wallace on Tuesday at home against the Hornets. Wallace is subject to a one-game suspension for picking up his 16th technical foul. "I don't care about No. 16," Wallace said. "I'm just going to be cheering from home."

[nba.com]

Postgame Quotes
Flip Saunders ... on making adjustments in the second half:
"What was happening is that we were so concerned early about their perimeter shooting, we were guarding our man too close and we were giving them lanes. Protect the paint first, and get there and contest the shots second."

Chauncey Billups ... On the difference between the first and second halves:
"We changed up our scheme a little bit defensively and made them take tougher shots - contesting their shots once we got a little bit accustomed to how they played, because nobody in the league plays like that. Some teams are a lot of up and down, but nobody really plays it that well. Once we made our adjustments and changed our scheme a little bit at halftime, we started hitting some shots as well, and our defense picked our offense up, too."

[MLive.com]

Full-Court Press: Starters' consecutive streak nearly ends; Darko trade an "all-time player jacking"
According to the ABC NBA pregame show, Rasheed Wallace was late to the arena today due to the spring time-change. They also reported that because of the error, Wallace was going to be withheld from the starting lineup, ending the starters' consecutive game streak. But even though the PA announcer announced Antonio McDyess in the starting lineup, Wallace did start the game.

[The Oakland Press]

Nets could wind up helping Pistons
It's nearly impossible to find anyone who does not foresee a Detroit-Miami rematch in the Eastern Conference finals. The late surge by New Jersey won't change that sentiment, but it could make the Heat work harder than expected to get there.

[azcentral.com]

Pistons pound Suns in second-half comeback
Public-address announcer John Mason included Wallace in the starting lineup, then after Saunders said he was not starting, Mason was told to say McDyess was starting. But with Wallace on the court for the tipoff, Mason was told to say Wallace was starting .... When Rasheed Wallace was charged with a technical, it got so testy that Mason was admonished by official Steve Javie for contorting his face. [Javie's a nazi. Give all the TV views a T, Steve--you know they deserve it.]

[Motoring]

A little bit of history repeating
In essence, that was a replica of the Milwaukee game. Play good O all game, but completely flip the switch at the half defensively. These kind of things make me think they’re just toying with people during these last few games.

[Need4Sheed]

Chauncey Outshines The Suns In Pistons Win Over Phoenix

Chauncey's 35 points helped The Pistons beat the red hot Suns 109 - 102 while clinching home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Suns led at the half 63-49, which was the most points given up by the Pistons at halftime all year. The Suns didn't miss many shots in the first half but the Pistons clamped down on defense in the second. The Pistons trailed by as much as 17 in the first half and 16 in the third quarter before coming back and finally taking the lead 87-86 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and never looking back.

Chauncey Billups is Clyde Frazier cool

Chauncey Billups goes by the nickname "Smooth." How smooth is he? The Association is comparing him to Walt Frazier, one of the smoothest players (on and off the court) ever to play the point:
Growing up, I remember my dad always telling me how cool Clyde Frazier was. He told me the guy was a good [...]

Chuck Daly still in Zeke's corner

When Chuck Daly speaks, Pistons fans listen. . . even if they think he's a little crazy. From the NY Post:
Daly, who coached Knicks president Isiah Thomas in Detroit, believes his former superstar point guard knows what it takes to build a perfect team, even giving him credit for helping Detroit construct its two [...]

[Detroit News]

Hall honors team player
Basketball legend Michael Jordan swears by Dumars, calling him and Dennis Johnson the toughest defenders he ever faced. Barkley and Wilkins said Dumars was the best all-around player on the Pistons -- even ahead of Isiah Thomas.

"The guys who played against Joe Dumars know he was spectacular," Wilkins said. "He was a workmanlike guy. But he was also a guy who could make you raise your eyebrows and say 'wow'. What he has done during his career and what he's done after his career has been pretty amazing."

"Joe Dumars was the best player on that team -- period," Barkley said.

Editorial: Basketball fame fits demure Joe Dumars
["Demure"? Somebody get an editor for the editorialist.] Detroit Pistons legend Joe Dumars has never really sought fame, but his on-court and off-court exploits ensured it would find him anyway. He is deservedly going into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Twist of fate
Here's a peek at Detroit's most likely first-round opponents.

Wallace suspended one game
Saunders said he would "more than likely" start Davis and not sixth man Antonio McDyess.

"There's a different temperament to being a starter than a guy that comes off the bench," he said. "When you are talking about something short-term like this, you don't want to get anybody out of their rhythm."

Alley oop to Carlos Delfino
"I go to the supermarket and get my own food. People ask me why I do that. I like to know what is in my food, and I do not want things that are bad. So I cook my own food. I like the pasta. But cleaning up, that I do not do very well. That's no fun."

[Booth Newspapers/MLive.com]

Inside the Pistons
In their last three games at home, the Pistons had double-digit deficits to playoff-bound teams who needed a win a lot more than Detroit. In the third quarter of each of those games, the Pistons made it close and went to their go-to players in the fourth quarter to bring home the wins. To his credit, Pistons coach Flip Saunders seems to have settled on an ideal playing rotation for the fourth quarter. Specifically, he's using Antonio McDyess like a baseball manager would use a middle relief pitcher, and Ben Wallace finishes off games similarly to a closer. It's a formula that has been working extremely well lately. And chances are, it will continue to be effective when the playoffs begin later this month.

[DetroitPistons.com]

Dale Davis and Pistons to host charity pool tournament
Dale Davis of the Detroit Pistons will host a charity single elimination 8-Ball tournament on Saturday, April 15, 2006 at Slapsticks Billiards & Spirits in Clinton Twp. The event titled, “The Dale Davis Foundation & Detroit Pistons All-Star Charity 8-Ball Tournament,” will run from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The proceeds from this event will be used towards scholarships for Detroit area students. Slapsticks Billiards and Spirits is located at 35691 Gratiot Ave, Clinton Township, MI.

[New Orleans Times-Picayune]

Hornets look to shine on the road
"San Antonio's still the team to beat, they're the defending champions," Scott said of the team that beat Detroit in seven games in the 2005 NBA Finals. "But I think if anyone can beat them, it's Detroit. They're almost tailor-made for each other, both built on the defensive end, and they have interchangeable parts on offense. If they meet in the Finals, it's going to go to seven. And I'll watch every one."

[BlackSportsOnline.com]

The Top 50 Sexiest Athletes' Wives and Girlfriends We Forgot
We admit it, we left out some very attractive Wifeys on our last list [also included on the web page], but we have corrected the problem, by listing the Top 50 Sexiest Athletes Wives and girlfriends we missed the first time around, so sit back, relax and enjoy. [Rip, Chauncey, Sheed, Prince and Lindsey all make the list with their better halves. Maybe Ben, too, I stopped after a while.]