The Pistons are in Miami to play their last game of the regular season against the 42-39 Heat. With Detroit locked in the 8th playoff spot there isn’t much worth playing for other than to save the starters legs for the Cavaliers. Michael Curry plans on siting Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Antonio McDyess. Tayshaun will start (because of his consecutive game streak), but he’s doubtful to play more than a handful of minutes.

With this game meaning nothing standing wise, it does mean that Pistons fans will get to see more of the youngsters in tonight’s game. As for the Pistons youth, it seems as though they are taking some heat from local Pistons beat writers Chris McCosky and A. Sherrod Blakely.

Chris McCosky:

“In a season full of disappointment, you probably have to rank the growth stagnation of Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson fairly high on the list.

Johnson was given the starting power-forward role coming out of camp and he couldn’t handle it. Maxiell was a main cog in the rotation last season under Flip Saunders, but has been yo-yoed in and out of Curry’s rotation this year.

The point is, the expectations on Maxiell and Johnson — in their fourth seasons — were just as high as those on Thomas and Noah. Detroit was counting on both to play key roles to lessen the reliance on the aging Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace.

And they didn’t get it done.

Maxiell has played 1,374 minutes, about 400 less than last year, averaging 5.7 points (down from 7.9) and 4.10 rebounds (down from 5.2).

He still struggles on the defensive boards and seems to have been in and out of Curry’s doghouse all season.

Johnson has played a career-high 889 minutes, averaging 3.5 points and 3.8 rebounds — almost exactly his career numbers.

He went from starting to the last man off the bench, other than rookie Walter Sharpe. Not exactly what president Joe Dumars envisioned when he gave him an $11 million extension two years ago.”

A. Sherrod Blakely:

“It’s difficult for players to put into words how a team that has been so dominant in the East for years could become a team that squeaks into the playoffs.

Chalking it up to the changes this season is only part of the problem.

The bigger issue has to do with talent.

All those years of finishing near the top of the Eastern Conference also meant being near the bottom of the NBA draft.

Youngsters such as Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell and Rodney Stuckey are all better players than they were on draft night. But they would have to be much better much faster to keep Detroit as a perennial title contender.

That hasn’t happened.

Because of that, the Pistons are where they are — a playoff team, barely.”

Not fun to hear when your Pistons team is heading into the most uncertain playoff situation they have been in for years.

Tip off is at 8:00 PM and will be locally broadcast on FSN Detroit. If you can’t catch the game on TV, you can listen to the game over on 1130 AM WDFN or follow through your computer at NBA.com.

And if you are still up for commenting on Detroit’s first round playoff matchup with the Cavs to give a little of your wisdom, the more the merrier.

Guest Writer: DunkOnU.com

I would go as far as calling this one of the best games I have seen the Pistons play all year. Had it all: scoring, defense, drama, last second heroics…

Too bad that we lost, but as long as the effort is there everything is alright. We’ll get them next time. We could have pulled this one out if it wasn’t for one or two bad bounces in the Heat’s direction and a few bad calls. Don’t get upset about the referees here, everybody knows that superstars get all the whistles their way, just live with the effort.

Photo/Getty Images

• Burned!
• I’m the 1st guy to tell you that Dwyane Wade doesn’t belong into the MVP debate, because his team isn’t good enough, but after today…well, it is hard to deny that this guy is special. Not like all-star special, nope, more like Hall of Fame, ‘one-of-the-best-scorers-to-ever-lace-’em-up‘-special. You got to give respect where respect is due. 39 points, 6 assists and 4 blocks. Total game-changer. He single-handedly won this game on both ends of the floor.
• Lady Luck shined at the Heat today. They were lucky more times than not in the final minute of the game. Jermaine O’Neal’s jumper with 1 second left on the shot clock, Jermaine’s follow-up that pretty much was offensive goaltending not being called, the way Haslem got the elbow jumper, the bad bounce the ball took off O’Neal’s hands after the in-bounds pass and the way it ended up in Haslem’s hands for the final shot …man…them not being lucky on one of those possessions would have been a W for us.
• Everybody has heard of Jamario Moon by now (or seen him on YouTube), but I didn’t know he could shoot threes like that. 3/5 and one bigger than the other. Sick!

 Photo/Getty Images

• In your face!
• We won, sorry, Maxiell and Dyess won the rebound war for us 36-29. Dyess grabbed a game-high 12 boards while Maxiell just crashed the offensive board -- 6 out of his 7 rebounds kept possession alive for us. One rebound by Jason was unreal -- the way he extended his arm to get it reminded me of the famous Dwight Howard alley-oop…
• Rodney Stuckey showed the world that he is ready to take over. What a game by Stuck! He wasn’t the best #3 on the court tonight, but he held his own against a top 3 active player. 24 points -- doing it all! Driving to the rim, hitting jump-shots -- if only the whistles weren’t going the wrong way…

 Photo/Getty Images

• Michael Curry put Walter Herrmann into the game with a few seconds left to stretch the floor for a Stuckey drive to get the lead back. Well, Stuckey drove and chose to pass it out to Herrmann who had an opportunity like this already twice this season and couldn’t take advantage of it…til today! Walter hit a big corner three to give us the lead! The crowd absolutely loved it.
• Miami got their 1st lead in the 4th quarter. We let them hang around for too long and they burned us in the end. Too bad…

• Kwame Brown - I can’t praise him enough. Maybe he is finally blossoming?  He played good against Yao, even better against the Clippers a few days later and now he delivered the goods against the Heat. A tied game-high +10 plus/minus and a few awesome moves in the post that totally surprised Jermaine O’Neal. Way to go, Kwame! Photo/Getty Images

• One call away…
• I got used to superstars getting the calls when the game is close (even tho I don’t like it, but it is what it is), but why not be consistent on both ends of the floor at least? If Stuckey would have done that to Wade -- Wade would be shooting free throws. No doubt about it.
• You be the judge….out of bounds that’s for sure.

The Pistons take on the 36-32 Miami Heat this afternoon at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Detroit will likely have Rodney Stuckey back, but Rip, Sheed and AI still have not solid date of return. Rip and Rasheed are expected back within a week, but there is no timetable for the return of Allen Iverson , who has missed Detroit’s last 12 games with a sore back. Call me a skeptic, but I’m still doubtful of his return to the team at all.

The Heat are now just 1 1/2 games up on sixth-place Philadelphia and two games ahead of seventh place Detroit 34-34.

Tip off is at 1:00 PM and will be broadcast Nationally on ABC. If you can’t catch the broadcast, listen locally on WDFN 1130 AM or trough your computer at NBA.com

Leave your thoughts in the comments and feel free to be as descriptive as can be while I’m on the disabled list, your comments will help keep me in the loop.

The Detroit Pistons just dropped below .500 basketball with their seventh straight loss, 91-103 to The Miami Heat.  With the loss Detroit fell into a tie for sixth in the East with Philadelphia, and needs to win in New Orleans today to avoid matching the franchise’s longest skid since 1995.

Key Points:

• Should we look past the Teal Era and dub this the Black and Blue Era?
• The Pistons’ seven game skid is their longest losing streak since 2002-03.
• If this quote by Allen Iverson doesn’t speak for a ton of what Pistons fans have been complaining about all season I don’t know what does. “We don’t have any consistency of how we are going to play night in and night out. We play different ways. We have to find an identity for ourselves on how we are going to play every night and stick to it. We have to live and die with it.” It’s actually quite funny to hear Iverson complain about playing defense when, well he’s know not to play any.  “We can’t stop nobody,” he accurately pointed out. “The way we played, we would have to shoot 60 percent to have a chance to win a basketball game. Everybody looks at our offense, but I thought we scored enough to win. We can’t get stops consistently and we can’t get stops when we need them. It seemed like they scored every time down the court.” Via NBA.com
• At least they scored 42 paint points….right?
• It ultimately was a cold third quarter in which Detroit was outscored 17-28 that did them in.
• This is not your Detroit Pistons team.
• You could see the frustration on the players’ faces throughout the game.

Photo/Getty Images

• Allen Iverson led Detroit with 22 points on 8-for-18 shooting with 2 steals, a rebound and 2 assists. Can’t forget the pretty layup that was the play of the game.
• You know Rodney Stuckey is struggling when Kwame Brown has 2 more assists than he does. Stuckey had 8 points, 0 assists, 0 rebounds, and 2 turnovers. Is it a wall or is it the system?
• Antonio McDyess once again played his heart out for a team that truly looks like it has given up. Dyess kept Detroit in the ballgame putting up 17 on 8-for-10 shooting.
• The Pistons shot 12% from downtown.
• Missing in action….Rasheed Wallace. Can’t win when Sheed puts up 6 points and 6 boards. Detroit needs him to dominate when they struggle.
• Rip wasn’t around either, just 9 points on 4-11 shooting.
• Tayshaun Prince came close to a triple – double with 18 points, 9 boards and 8 assists. Is Tay doing Rodney’s job better than he is?

Photo/Getty Images

• Keep Curry, put Iverson in check?
• A Walter sighting, whom Curry vows to utilize.  Kwame Brown saw some action too.
• FSN Highlights by Quarter.
• Outrebounded by 10.
• Raise your hand if you wanted to see Detroit at least try to play zone when they were in trouble. I guess he will try anything because I can remember not so long ago that he didn’t want to play zone D at ALL.
• To make things worse, how obnoxious is Wade’s band-aid which reads FLASH with a lightning bolt on it?  I don’t care who you are, a display like that is ridiculous.  Can you see Antonio with a face band-aid with dice on it?  Yes he’s a great player, but get over yourself.
• Matt Watson – The Pistons are Tumbling Into Oblivion.
• Think twice before you put all the blame on Allen Iverson.
• Tonight in NO will be tough.  A back to back on a seven game slide facing Chris Paul.

The Piston and their  six game losing streak are in Miami to take on the 29-26 Heat.  Of all the games on Pistons’ current road trip, this game against Miami may be the most winnable for a seriously slumping Detroit team.

Miami has currently lost seven of their last 11 games.  Dwyane Wade seems to be the only one putting up number for the Heat. He surpassed his career high by putting up 50 points against the Magic on Sunday.  Stop Wade and maybe Detroit can muster a win.

More from Rip

“There’s been a whole lot of changes this year,” Hamilton said. “We’ve been changing stuff all through the season.

“For one example we just put (Antonio) McDyess back in the starting lineup and things like that. There’s been a lot of different changes. Me coming off the bench, so … there’s something different.”

When asked to clarify his comments Monday, Hamilton said: “I didn’t agree with coming off the bench, but I did it to help the team and to win games. But we haven’t won games with me doing that.” Via The Detroit Free Press

The Good/Bad and More:

• The Pistons have lost 15 of 20 since Jan. 10, including six straight for the first time since Feb. 3-17, 2004. The Pistons haven’t had a longer skid since they dropped seven in a row from Feb. 21-March 2, 2003.
• I know we talk about Curry a lot around here lately but did you know his suits are known to cause seizures? (from Need4Sheed reader Bill Pooch)
• Drew Sharp: Everyone is culpable. (thanks to Max for making sure I didn’t miss it)
• Chris McCosky blames Iverson.
• A. Sherrod Blakely – Curry is Dumars’ Guy.
• A surprising Fall from grace.
• Can’t say this in a nice way, the Pistons are screwed.

Tip off is at 7:30 and locally broadcast on FSN.  If you can’t catch the game on TV, or are gearing up for the Oscars, you can listen locally at WDFN 1130 AM or follow/listen to the game at NBA.com.

Leave them in the Comments.