The Pistons added another W to the win column Sunday evening, sweeping the season series against The Heat with a 91-75 victory in Miami. Detroit has now won five games in a row by putting a very talented makeshift lineup on the floor to get the starters rest and ready themselves for a long playoff run.

Key Points:

• Arron Afflalo started again for Richard Hamilton, while Jason Maxiell replaced Antonio McDyess in the starting lineup.
• Detroit allowed Miami only 27 first half points, the least amount given up at half from The Pistons all season.
• Block Party! 10 blocks on the night for Detroit, how didn’t let Miami get anything down low, or any second chance points for that matter.
• Tayshaun was on fire in the third quarter going 5-for-5 and finished the game with 14 points in just 19 minutes. Tay added 6 boards and an a assist, while getting plenty of rest on the night.
• Rodney Stuckey continues to put up strong games and led the Pistons again Sunday night. Stuckey has 3 steals, 19 points, 3 boards and 4 assists and even broke some ankles. His teammates on the bench LOVED it.

• Detroit started off slow, letting the Heat keep the lead in beginning of the first, but once The Pistons took a 14-13 lead, they never looked back. Miami did get The Pistons lead down to 9 halfway through the fourth, but Detroit quickly stepped things up.
• Pretty slow and uneventful game, but still good to see how great Detroit has been on the defensive end.
• Rebound war won 41-33.
• Miami’s Chris Quinn just doesn’t look like a basketball player to me. I just realized that he reminds me of actor DJ Qualls. He’s actually doing a heck of a job for The Heat, but looks like he’s going to start to break out in tears in this picture. I am also wondering if he can actually grow a mustache or if he likes to go with the dirt style as the way to go.

• The Pistons led by as much as 21.
• 10 points each for Hayes, Maxiell, Afflalo and Dixon.
• I was right about to mention the Miami crowd, if that’s what you call it. Keith V. made had a great quote in the comments, that I totally feel the same way about. “Did you see how empty the place was? That’s just sad. Where are all those “White Hot Heat” fans now? Bandwagon jumpers I guess.”In fact there were more Pistons fans in the house than Heat fans, or at least that’s what it sounded like.
• NBA.com highlights of the game.
• The second masked man Cheikh Samb had five uneventful minutes on the floor. Well he did commit 2 fouls while he was in and looks pretty intimidating in that mask.

• 24 minutes for Billups, 19 for Tayshaun and 20 for Sheed.
• Plenty of Deeeeetroit Basketball chants in Miami.
• “I’m not really thinking about shooting the ball now,” Stuckey said. “It’s just coming off my hand and releasing. I’m not really second-guessing myself anymore because the guys have been telling me, ‘Don’t do that.’ “ Via The Detroit Free Press
• Does Ratliff have a 15 footer in his arsenal? The only two shots he took were in Dyess’s range and he missed both.
• Maxiell had a nice night starting in place of McDyess. He scored 10 and grabbed 7 boards with 3 wicked blocked shots. I would just like to mention how great he’s been at the line for quite some time.

• With the win, The Pistons wrapped up the second seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs. They are currently one game ahead of The Hornets record for home court for the NBA Finals.
• Four blocked shots and 7 boards for Amir Johnson in 27 minutes.
• 50% shooting on the night for Detroit, while the Heat shot 35%.
• Waltzing Walter…I bet he’d be a great dancer.

• Hilarius Herrmann story told by Flip Saunders from The Detroit Free Press: “I was laughing in our game at Minnesota. Walter had that one move where with one hand he faked, brought the ball down and then shot it off the glass across his body. Kirk Snyder was taking the ball out of bounds and he turned to (referee) Danny Crawford and said, ‘Have you ever seen anything like that?’ and Danny just shook his head. “Snyder then says to Walter, ‘Hey man, congratulations.’”
• I wonder if Stuckey will get Sheed back for the ball toss.
• 45 Piston bench points.
• I am particularly excited for Tuesday nights game where The Pistons will name The All-Time Pistons Team. It’s probably the one time that I will actually bring the camera along to capture the moment. I’m a sucker for anything “Old School” especially when it brings back fond memories.

Detroit clinched their fourth Central Division title Thursday night beating the Developmental League The Miami Heat 85-69. Don’t look at the score and count this one as an easy victory for The Pistons. The makeshift Heat lead 45-43 at the half and it wasn’t until midway though the fourth that the Pistons finally pulled away.

Key Points:

• Rip sat this one out again resting his hip injury.
• Credit the hungry Heat players for really going out there and making this a game. I never heard of Blake Ahearn, the D league player who was called up for the Heat but trust me I won’t forget him. He led Miami with 15 points.
• Pistons fans got treated with a minute and fifty four seconds of Walter Herrmann, who scored 2 in his much awaited return to the court.
• 36 points in the paint for Detroit.
• Arron Afflalo started the game in place of Richard Hamilton and had a career high 15 points and 7 boards. Afflalo added a couple of steals and did a heck of a job on the defensive end all night. He’s always being razzed by his teammates about him jumping ability, so you know this one cracked some smiles.

• It was nice to see Afflalo in the Post Game Interview with George and Special K, which was also packed with AA highlights.
• Sheed a future NBA Coach?
• Detroit held Miami to just 24 second half points.
• Maxiell had a monster of a game with 15 points a blocked shot and 7 boards.
• Jarvis Hayes played 13 minutes and surprisingly only put up one shot.
• Detroit shot 47 % on the night.
• Double-double for Chauncey Billups with 13 points and 11 assists, that’s his 13th of the season. I would say the best dish of the night has to be this feed to McDyess for the jam.

• Sheed vs. Primoz who are you going to VOTE for?
• Juan Dixon sat out his third straight game.
• 30 plus minutes for all the starters.
• So we would have liked the Pistons to have mopped the floor with the lowly Heat, right? It doesn’t mean what they have done this season should be looked over. The fact is their record since the All Star break looks quite alarming, but I’m not losing faith until I see something to be concerned about come the start of the Playoffs. Maybe that’s just the Homer in me.
• Stuckey played a solid 20 minutes, but Afflalo was truly the Rookie that shined. Rodney finished the game with 4 points and 2 assists.
• I think it’s unanimous amongst Pistons fans that we would like to see Tayshaun be aggressive night in and night out. It doesn’t mean we want him taking every shot, but with Rip out he should be dominating. Tay had 8 points, 8 assists and a steal.
• He just causes a ruckus on the defensive end. Two blocks in 16 minutes. Good to see Amir get some burn.

• Rebound war won 37-34.
• DNP Ratliff.
• The Pistons led by as much as 16 and Miami once had their lead at 9.
• NBA.com’s Highlights of The Game and GMac’s Highlights of The Game.
• The game against the Heat was The Pistons fourth game in five nights.
• Cavs tomorrow at The Palace, I feel a message needs to be sent.

The 13 and 58 Miami Heat will play their last game this season at The Palace tonight. The Pistons would love to come off their lackluster performance against the Raptors to grab a win and clinch the Central Division title for the fourth straight season.

The Pistons have a couple of good things going for them tonight. The Heat are awful and The Pistons have won 5 straight at home. Should that be enough to translate into a win for Detroit? Well it’s likely, unless Chris Quinn goes off.

Miami is without Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion and using seven players from the D League, including three who were called up last week.

Tip off is at 8:00 PM and will be locally broadcast on myTV20 Detroit it was originally supposed to be a TNT game but they dropped it about a week ago (sorry out of town Piston fans). If you can’t catch it on TV you can always tune in to 1130 AM WDFN The Fan or stream it live through your computer at NBA.com.

Let’s hope the comment section is filled with highlights tonight.