En fuego del porte el miserablo

"I was the first woman to burn my bra - it took the fire department four days to put it out." ~ Dolly Parton

The Pistons are still trying to figure out how to put the fire out after dropping their last 37 games - something like that, anyway. Joe Dumars is attempting to secure access to Ben Wallace's time machine in order to go back and not trade Chauncey Billups, however, Wallace insists those rumors are not true, and that his resurgence has "absolutely nothing" to do with a time machine.

Well, at least things can't get worse - - what, Ben Gordon is out with a twisted ankle??? A four-letter word would be completely appropriate, but I'll let you imagine which one I'm thinking of.

Ok, ok, the Billups trade is behind us. There's no reason to bring it up, and in fact, I like the team we have. That's not to say I think they're a lock to turn it around this year, but not having Rip and Prince for almost the entire season is really what has caused the train to derail (as badly as it has). Now, without their three best players (Gordon day-to-day), it is going to take a gutsy performance to get a win tonight at the Palace against the Clippers.

The big problem for the Pistons will be keeping Chris Kaman from going off. Easier said than done, however, after a hot start Kaman has been unproductive (offensively) in his last three games - scoring 38 points while going 10-48 from the field. For him this is a bit of a homecoming (he went to Central Michigan University) so let's hope he doesn't have some kind of 'eff the Pistons' grudge that makes him blow up for 30 points...

The second problem is that Kaman and Marcus Camby are averaging nearly 20 rebounds between them. This doesn't bode well for the Pistons as they will very likely be dominated on the boards tonight. The best solution would be to hit a high percentage of shots... we'll see how that goes.

The Pistons desperately need a win, but they are rolling into this game without Rip, Prince and Gordon. A lot of things will have to go their way if they want to right the ship tonight at the Palace.

As always, I have hope.

~Matt Penridge

(Special thanks to Aunt Janet. If I hadn't consumed 4 pounds of her legendary stuffing on Thanks Giving, and she not kept the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader in the appropriate room, I would have never saw the Dolly Parton quote.)