The Pistons are taking advantage of their top seeding in the playoffs by letting the starters get some rest before the playoffs begin. Detroit chose not to dress Sheed, Rip and Hunter in order to let the rookies get their feet wet. Although the Pistons lost to the Bucks 113-93 we got a chance to see what the future holds for the newest members of the Detroit Pistons.

Carlos Delfino finally got some quality minutes, he went 7-13 from the field with 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 28 minutes. Alex Acker looked a bit nervous but he ended up with 4 points and 4 assists in 18 minutes. Jason Maxiell had a double double, 11 points and 12 rebounds with two blocked shots, and he truly played his heart out in 27 minutes on the floor.

We finally got to see Amir Johnson, and what an 18 minutes he had in his first real NBA game. High School phenom Johnson was PERFECT, going 6-6 from the floor, 4-4 from the stripe and 2-2 from beyond the arch adding two rebounds and two assists with 16 of Amir’s 18 points coming in the fourth quarter. Amir looked great and like Maxiell hustled on every play.

You have to love how these kids played, giving it their all every minute they were out there. Maxiell is a beast, he reminds me of a smaller Shaq, this guy wants to slam it down every time he touches the ball. They are all still young but I see great potential in each one of them. Maxiell is the best defender of the bunch, but I think Amir will get better with a little more time in the league. It’s refreshing to see three young guys play so hard in basically a meaningless game, they know it’s their time to shine and they gave 100%. If only Darko had done that when he was here, things would be a bit different. It was nice to see the young boys get some attention, here are Acker and Johnson’s post game interviews. Right click and save or click to watch.

Alex Acker Post Game Interview Video

With only one more game left in the regular season, the eastern conference playoff seeds are still undecided. People keep asking me who I want the Pistons to play in the first round. My answer is, it doesn’t matter, it would be nice to get an easy first round opponent but either way I don’t see any problems. I personally would love to see us play Washington, I think we have some unfinished business with them. Let’s get it started, the Pistons are ready, hungry and on a mission and I don’t think anyone can stop them.