The national stage was set and the Pistons took advantage of it, humiliating the West-leading Phoenix Suns in front of their home crowd- on national television.

Rasheed sparked the Pistons during the first half, he couldn’t miss a shot if he tried. Amare Stoudemire had nothing on Sheed’s turn-around jumpers, and he was hitting all of them. He dropped 22 points on 8-10 shooting, all in about 2 and a half quarters of play.

Jarvis Hayes notched a season high in points with 18 off the bench on 7-11 shooting.

I didn’t know this before today’s game, but Chauncey is 2nd in the league in +/-, behind only Paul Pierce.

Shaq had a pretty rough flagrant foul against Amir in the 2nd quarter when he delivered a forearm shiver to Amir’s ribcage.

Dyess: another double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

In retrospect, Shaq didn’t do much of anything for the Suns. 7 points and 11 rebounds isn’t much to write home about in 33 minutes of playing time, especially for a 7’1″, 325 lb. center.

Max was cleaning up the boards on both ends as usual.

Amare Stoudemire did finish with 31 points, but a many of those points came from stat-padding in 4th quarter garbage minutes.

Steve Nash limited to 11 points and 6 assists.

Juan Dixon got 2 and a half minutes of playing time at the end of the game, but only notched a turnover and a foul.

Those first 2 losses after the All-Star look to be a blessing in disguise for the Pistons. They’ve realized their weaknesses and, in my opinion, look stronger than they have so far this season.

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