On a night that many thought they wouldn’t see until the 2009-2010 season, Gilbert Arenas returned.

On a night that many thought they wouldn’t see until the 2009-2010 season, Detroit let a 12-point fourth quarter lead evaporate and Gilbert Arenas had an opportunity to do what he arguably does best: hit a game-winning buzzer-beater.

The Pistons snuffed that chance out.

In a defensive stance nothing short of spectacular, Kwame Brown forced Arenas to fall out of bounds and hoist up an airball with five seconds left in the fourth. Caron Butler corraled the miss and followed with a second-chance airball of his own.

“I’m going to think about that the whole way to Indiana,” Arenas said. “I should’ve called a timeout, or I should’ve just drove the lane off the rebound, but that’s what happened. We’ve got to live with it. … Just had a mental block.”

Regardless of not playing in an NBA game  for the past 11 months, Arenas finished with a double-double, 15 points and 10 assists.

Rip Hamilton finished with a game-high 31 points and was the Pistons’ driving force of the first half.

The Pistons three point shooting was a factor, converting 10 of 15. Notably, Hamilton made five of his nine attempts, Tayshaun Prince made all three of his, and Walter Herrmann made both of his.

Antawn Jamison led the Wizards in scoring with 21 points and five rebounds in over 42 minutes of action.

The win keeps the Pistons in the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture at 24 games behind the leader, Cleveland. The Charlotte Bobcats rest in the ninth spot at 2.5 games behind Detroit, potentially posing a threat if Detroit hits another cold streak.

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Quote source: AP

By Eric Woodyard – Piston Post Writer

With 8.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter following a timeout, the Charlotte Bobcats have possession. The game is knotted at 78 apiece in the Palace of Auburn Hills versus the Detroit Pistons.

Bobcats’ point guard and former North Carolina Tar Heel, Raymond Felton, gets the ball on the inbounds play. The trade rumors are the last thing on his mind as he is matched up against the new star of the Pistons, Rodney Stuckey. He keeps his composure as he sizes Stuckey up with a baby dribble at the 4.1 mark on the clock. Stuckey never bites on the dribble and keeps his balance until Felton uses that baby dribble to bait him into his real move.

Felton goes between the legs, in and out with the left hand, crosses over to his right, and finally pulls up for the 20 foot jumper…swish!! (…his 12th point of a perfect fourth quarter in which he connected on all five of his field goals including two three-pointers!)

He would finish with 23 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds.

The Pistons immediately ask for time to regroup.

With .7 seconds left on the clock, the Pistons hope they can pull a Derek Fisher. For what it’s worth Allen Iverson hit a buzzer beater to take them into halftime with a 48-41 lead over the Bobcats.

Following dagger from Felton, Detroit comes out of the timeout and gets Iverson open from a baby curl set on the other side of the court. He gets an open shot but can’t connect as he clonks the jumper at the buzzer. The Pistons lose 80-78 at home. How hapless!

This is not what Iverson envisioned it would be like when he faced his former head coach/mentor, Larry Brown. The days of Iverson asking “Where my coach?” are gone. This was not a tribute to Coach Brown as Iverson claimed it was following his All-Star game MVP performance in 2001.

As soon as the buzzer sounds and the Pistons lose, Brown greets Iverson with a hug and a few words of advice which means nothing to the Answer as the Bobcats snap their six-game losing streak to the Pistons. This was their first win over Detroit since January of 2007. It had to be gargantuan for Charlotte. I can only imagine it would be.

In Felton’s interview with Pistons’ Broadcaster, Eli Zaret, following the game he expressed why he was so successful.

“I was just taking chances within the game and not forcing things,” Felton says. “(Larry Brown) has made me better as a point guard and he’s always tough on his point guards.”

Although they may not want to admit, Pistons Head Coach, Michael Curry should have followed the same formula that Brown uses for his point guards and been tough on Rip Hamilton by leaving him out of the starting lineup.

Allen Iverson thought different.

“That had nothing to do with us losing this game, the lineup that we started with, that lineup is gonna play the majority of the game anyway regardless if we started that way,” Iverson says. “Tonight we even finished that way, so I don’t think that had nothing to do with it. We just got beat. We lost a game that we should’ve won…easily!”

With an 18-14 overall record since the Iverson project began in early November, you have to wonder ‘just when the Detroit Pistons are going to play consistent basketball?’

The project will continue tonight when they face off against Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis at 7 p.m.