Couldn’t have picked a less desirable time to be on a five-game losing streak.
The Pistons’ upcoming road trip will include the home courts of four of the top five Eastern Conference teams (Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, Miami) and a Western Conference contender (New Orleans), in a short span of nine days.
And then “home sweet home,” right? I wish. The first game back is against the Nuggets, a team whose now formidable status needs no explanation for Pistons fans.
A 14-15 home record goes without saying.
Pessimism is a rampant mantra in these semi-dark …

Forward Rasheed Wallace sat out of his morning’s shoot-around at Madison Square Garden, instead getting treatment from strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander on his sore left ankle.
There’s still a chance he could play tonight against the Knicks. Neither Wallace nor Pistons coach Flip Saunders would count him out.
“It’s 50-50,” Saunders said. “Either he plays or he doesn’t.”
[...]
My guess is he’ll sit because the Pistons can then get Theo Ratliff some meaningful minutes and begin to see what their newly-signed big man has to offer. Ratliff said he’d be ready …

The Pistons in Phoenix, set to take on the Shaq’d-up, West-leading Suns on the national stage.
The game will air at 2:30 on ABC.
Phoenix, coming off a big win against Boston, will have momentum. Luckily, the Pistons are pretty good on the road (18-10) and should make this a good one.
Detroit will need to contain Shaq, but more importantly, Amare Stoudamire. The guy is unstoppable if he gets going and someone will need to stop up to stop those driving lane dunks.
Yet another Grant Hill-Pistons reunion. Grant has …

The Pistons will head down south Wednesday night for a two-day, two-game swing through the Lone Star State.
Detroit is looking to bounce back from a hard-fought loss to the Celtics Saturday night, a Boston win that snapped an 11-game win streak.
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki has undoubtedly recovered from his early-season slump. He leads the team in scoring, averaging 22 a night, as well as rebounds.
Devin Harris and Josh Howard have also elevated their games in the past weeks, and Eric Dampier has done surprisingly well and will be …

The Pistons host the Indiana Pacers tonight as the two teams prepare for a two-night, two-game mini-series.  The Pistons are shooting for their 7th win in a row.
The Pacers have flirted with .500 all season, and currently stand at 15-14.  They’ve won 6 of their last 10.  They are currently in 2nd place in the Central Division, 6.5 games behind the Pistons.
Mike Dunleavy has taken an unexpected stand as Indiana’s leading scorer, averaging 17.5 a night.  He is having a career year, also leading the team in field goal percentage, …