This is what Pistons fans have been waiting for since Detroit’s early departure in the playoffs last season.  Let’s leave the mess behind us and get to the good stuff.

Detroit is in Memphis to take on the Grizzles for their season opener tonight at 8pm.  You’re opening night linup is.

• Rodney Stuckey
• Rip Hamilton
• Tayshaun Prince
• Charlie Villanueva
• Ben Wallace

Yes, Big Ben will be the Pistons starting center.

Tip off is at 8:00 PM and will be broadcast on FS Detroit with pregame festivites starting at 7PM.  Can’t watch live? Listen on the radio over at 9.71 The Ticket or follow the gamecast over at NBA.com.

I’m excited, so I’m sure you will get a few choice Tweets out of me during the game.

To an eventful and action packed season!  Leave em in the comments.

“The replacement referees caused confusion in the first quarter. Ersan Ilyasova was fouled while shooting a jumper and awarded two free throws. During the next timeout, more than 90 seconds later, the officials decided he had been taking a 3-pointer, and gave him another shot.

He made it, but Prince pointed out that the error was only correctable within 24 seconds, so the point was taken away from Milwaukee.”   Via Dave Hogg at NBA.com

More from the Free Press on the issues with Replacement refs.

“The refs called a whopping 19 fouls in the first quarter — including 12 on the Pistons. The two teams combined for 68 fouls in the game. Add those to the 59 that were called in Monday’s exhibition opener and it’s apparent these guys have quick whistles.

For the second game in a row, a Pistons rookie was ejected during the waning minutes of the game. Austin Daye got tangled with former Piston Carlos Delfino when Delfino appeared to hit Daye in the chest. Daye swung his arms and the officials tossed both. Fellow rookie Jonas Jerebko was ejected Monday night against the Heat.”

Let’s hope the lockout gets settled soon, you know how we like to get on the officials. Imagine if we have to go into the regular season with the replacements. Heck, I look good in stripes, it may as well be me out there.

Nice Dunk by Gordon who led the way with 24 points.

Thanks to Need4Sheed reader Jay for the video.

Feel free to comment on the game, especially if you happened to be there since it wasn’t televised.

Remember, Jason Maxiell will be at Meijer in Waterford (4200 Highland Road) on Thursday, October 8 from 4:30-5:30 p.m., along with the Year-Round Hoops Truck, where you can get a voucher for a free ticket to a preseason game at The Palace.

And… Open Practice is this Saturday.

The good news is not only do the Pistons look like the team we are accustomed to, they are starting to feel like it.

“Some games we do feel like the old Pistons,” forward Antonio McDyess said. “We’ve got each other’s backs, playing free and having fun. For a while it’s been that way, since we’ve had Rip in the lineup.”

McDyess wants Hamilton to keep his starting job even when Iverson returns.

“We’ve got to keep it the way it is,” he said. “We’ve only lost (two) games with him in the lineup. He’s been sharing the ball like a point guard, which is not his strength, and really scoring, also. With the energy he brings, it’s like we have more confidence in ourselves now.” Via NBA.com

Meanwhile Richard Hamilton is putting up monster numbers since his return to the starting lineup averaging 24.9 points and 7.6 assists.

The Good/Bad and More

• The Grizzlies haven’t beaten the Pistons since a 101-79 home victory Jan. 6, 2005.
• The Grizzlies have lost four straight and 12 of 13.
• Darko can’t even get time on the Grizzlies although he did put up a double-double on Wednesday for them.

Tip off 1:00 PM at the Palace of Auburn Hills and will be broadcast locally on FSN Detroit. If you can’t watch the broadcast you can listen live on 1130 AM WDFN or follow the game audio or watch the live stats over at NBA.com.

A moment of silence for Mr. Davidson at The Palace he built.

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.

Vladan Katanic
Austria (yes, he’s traveling over 4500 miles to see  some Pistons Games!)
More on that later!

Sarah Day
Bowling Green, Ohio

Darlene Meyers
Shippensburg, PA

Ryan Walters
Carleton, MI

Steve Kearney
Washington, MI

Michael McElhenney
Troy, MI

I just spoke with WDFN’s Matt Dery and he informed me NOTHING will change in terms of the Pistons broadcasts.

Glad to know I’ll have Matt to listen to on my ride to and from the Palace today.

We wish everyone who lost thier jobs well and thank them for entertaining us for so many years.

And yes I need to make a cartoon Will ASAP.

• The Palace was abuzz from the minute I stepped inside the building until the end of the first quarter. Things went south quickly after that.
• Mr. Iverson got such a loud welcome that from inside the building I had no idea what Mason said until I watched the video clip.
• Want to know how bad it really was? You could hear the boos from just about everywhere inside the Palace.  It may be just me, but I’m one of those fans that just won’t boo my team. I haven’t done it yet and I was at a few stinkers during the playoffs the last couple of years. I hope I never hit the breaking point.
• It seemed like it took forever for either team to score, that may have been due to both teams playing good D to start the game. It’s just too bad Boston kept going and Detroit folded.
• Tayshaun Prince was the only Piston do do much of anything. Tayshaun led the team with 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting with 8 boards, 2 assists and a steal.  A perfect 2-for-2 from downtown for Prince.

Photo/Getty

• Will Bynum is truly making it hard not to jump on his bandwagon. In 12 minutes he went 3-for-4 for 11 points and 2 assists. Though the game was out of reach at that point it was nice to see some sort of life in the building.
• Tony Allen? Another role player to burn Detroit. They stopped the big three from putting up numbers but let Allen (not Ray) burn them for 23.
• What’s the deal with Rondo and the Karate Kick? It’s not like you can do that in the NBA, so why was he being pouty when the foul was called? Too bad he smoked us for a jam on the next play.
• This highlight of the game came when Detroit was actually in the ball game. An Amir putback, no matter how bad the game was, will make you smile.

Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and FSN Detroit

• Do I really care that Rasheed put up a double-double? Not when he was 0 for 100 until mid third quarter. His 4-for-17 shooting night was hard to watch. He finished with 11 boards and 10 points, 1 block and 1 assist. SHEED …..THE PAINT PLEASE!
• I have to agree with someone wise, we sure do miss Dyess.
• Maxiell got 17 minutes but he was invisible.
• The second quarter was just hard to swallow. The 30 points that Boston put up to Detroit’s 10 in the second was the equivalent of making someone eat Ex-Lax brownies. It was gross.
• It’s up to you if you want to revisit this one. NBA.com highlights of the game.
• AI looked like he was off to a AI kind of night but early foul trouble derailed things. He finished with 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting in 31 minutes.

Photo/Getty

• Nobody in Piston red, white and blue are ready for Iverson’s passes. Detroit is simply not used to someone driving the lane and dishing. Is AI trying to please his new teammates too much?
• At the half, the Pistons were shooting 25% on their way to a 34.7% night.
• The Celtics D was great, but I think it was more about what the Pistons weren’t doing than what Boston was.
• Rip Hamilton…zero for eight on the night.
• Stuckey left the game at the half complaining of dizziness and didn’t return. No word yet on how he’s doing.
• We may have plenty of bumps to come, and a long trip out west won’t help them a bit.