The Pistons take on the 60-13 Cavaliers tonight in Cleveland. The Cavaliers are two games head of the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA’s best overall record, are 35-1 at home this season and have won a franchise-record 12 straight. And don’t forget they dismantled the Pistons in their last meeting.

The Pistons should have Rasheed Wallace back tonight after missing the last 11 games with a strained left calf.

Ben Wallace, who broke his leg remains out, but the Cavs should get him back in time for the postseason.

We know every game counts and a win against Cleveland is a tall as the Pistons remain two games ahead of Chicago in the loss column and three ahead of Charlotte in the chase for the final two playoff spots though the Bulls have played two more games than either team.

Tip off is at 7:00 PM and will be locally broadcast on FSN Detroit and on NBA.TV. If you can’t catch the broadcast you can listen live on WDFN 1130 AM or follow the game over at NBA.com.

Key Points:

• Outrebounded 42-35.
• Detroit shot 42% to Cleveland’s 47%.
• 22% from three point range for the Pistons to 46% for Cleveland.
• Lackluster game from Rodney Stuckey, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince who scored 26 points combined.
• Allen Iverson led the Pistons with 22 points on 9-for-19 shooting in 43 minutes on the floor. He also had 3 takeaways, an assist, 3 boards and 5 of the Pistons’ 9 turnovers. Ouch…

• The Pistons record on Sundays is now 1-8.
• I’m not going to say I smiled when Antonio McDyess unintentionally clocked Anderson Varejao and sent him to the locker room bleeding so he could get stitched up. But I did.
• A lot of time for Dyess. McDyess played a season-high 38 minutes in Friday’s loss to Boston, and 29 more on Sunday. He finished with 6 points and 8 boards and a knockout.
• NBA.com Highlights of the Game.
• Ben Wallace and his 2 cents “Billups brought a lot of leadership to the team and made sure everybody got the ball where they needed to get it,” Cleveland’s Ben Wallace said. “He was more of a floor general. Iverson is more of a scorer. Chauncey would make sure everybody got their looks and if he needed to score, he would. “It definitely hurt the chemistry of the team. I guess it’ll take a little getting used to.” Via NBA.com
• You might want to ask yourself why Amir didn’t play more when he sparked the Pistons’ biggest lead, scoring 8 points and 7 boards in the third quarter. Hustle plays like this are what Amir was doing all game long.

Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and ABC

• A 15 to 2 fourth quarter run for the Cavs with LeBron on the bench just makes Pistons fans feel worse than they need to. Especially since it looked like they were going to pull out the win.
• The Cavs are now 12 games ahead of Detroit in the standings.
• Forget the Pistons, The Palace has their own troubles. A Waterford couple embezzled 1.8 million dollars from the organization.
• Van Gundy and Mark Jackson both tried to coach the Pistons from the broadcast booth. You can tell they haven’t really watched much of the team play other than when they are on the sidelines.  Sure they may have good points from time to time, but they sound like they are auditioning for someone’s job.
• The Pistons have now lost four straight home games for the first time in eight years.
• Amir scored 10 points with 9 boards in 21 minutes on the floor. Is this enough to warrant the argument for him to keep starting for the Pistons?

• An Amir Johnson Highlight Reel.
• Maxiell with just 4 minutes of playing time. He did manage to pick up a technical foul though.
• Did you notice just because Amir started the Pistons still played small ball at times. Rip defending LeBron…
• Rip played well, scoring 16 on 6-for-12 shooting. He’s playing better since coming off the bench not that he’s getting the ball and coming off screens again.
• NBA.com “Does Iverson think the Pistons would win more if he had the ball as much as he did in that quarter?” “Don’t do that to me. You’re opening up a can of worms,” Iverson said, playfully. “But I trust the way everything is going. I don’t have a choice. What I say don’t matter.”
• Our friends from Austria deserve better, they traveled almost 5000 miles to see the Pistons. They are now 0-2 and have one more chance to see this team win before they head back home.  We are rooting for you Vladan and Martin. By the way, they are keeping a journal of their trip at Dunk on U. I strongly suggest you head over there and read their journal of their time in Detroit. If something can put a smile on your face after the last two games it’s their trip.
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3 (the day I met them and realized that Wallside Windows and the Dr. Ramini are legends in Europe)
• Why does small ball still exist?!? We go big in the 3rd and have our biggest lead of the game, at 8 points. Then Curry sits Amir and we go small, resulting in a 15-2 run for the Cavs. Need I say more?

Peter Vecsey of the New York Post seems to think Curry has lost all control.
“Has Michael Curry lost control of the 25-20 Pistons and the respect of the players? Did he have it to lose? Numerous players didn’t much care for Flip Saunders. Now it’s more a lack of confidence in the rookie coach than a dislike of him, from what I’m told. “No confidence” is more like it, a veteran confided to a friend. “Psychologically we’ve lost confidence in him and I don’t know how you get that back.” Biggest gripe from two veterans: They’re convinced Curry is being told who to play by Joe Dumars.”

Can’t read much into it considering Vecsey sources (if you can call them that) are rarely accurate. But I still thought I should put it out here for you.

Good News/Bad News

• LeBron James is having an MVP like year, a year in which he has help around him.
• Rip isn’t happy with the way things are right now. “This is tough for us,” said Hamilton. “We’re so used to being the bully, the team that actually goes out and wins, and wins a lot.” Via MLive
• Ben Wallace returns along with my NOT so favorite forward Anderson Varejao.
• The injured Zydrunus Ilgauskas is back.
• It’s Cleveland

This will be Vladan and Martin’s second Pistons game of their life, and just because they are all the way from Austria doesn’t mean they don’t have Detroit spirit.  They know how to hate Cleveland just as much as we do.

Just check out the shirt Martin has on!

So if you are headed out to the game this afternoon and see our friends from Austria, (who, I just found out have an NBA Blog of their own) please give them a Pistons welcome.

Tip off is at 2:30 P.M. and Nationally Televised on ABC. If you can’t watch the broadcast, tune into 1130 AM WDFN The Fan.  Can’t do either? Follow the game on NBA.com.

Comments and  Chat.

You must have missed this shot that made everyone a believer in Herrmann, who was instant offense off the bench for Detroit. Walter was 3-for-4 from downtown for 11 points in 19 minutes.

Team Need4Sheed Podcast #10

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E-mail Bennie and Jeff with all your questions, comments or suggestions at gameday@woodradio.com