Portland is still trying to pry Tayshaun Prince out of Detroit in a three-way deal with Utah, but Pistons president Joe Dumars hasn’t shown an inclination to move Prince and extend Boozer’s contract, league sources say. Several league executives are dubious of Boozer as a $14 million-a-year player, which his agent, Rob Pelinka, has told teams it will take to sign him to an extension. Miami could be the suitor willing to pay it.

-Yahoo Sports

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

•Tayshaun’s game has elevated to incredible heights since AI came to town. If Iverson isn’t taking shots in the clutch, Tay is, and he hasn’t disappointed. I used to be scared of wild shots or impending turnovers when Tayshaun took over late in the 4th. Now, however, there’s no Piston I’d rather have with the ball in his hands.

•It’s pretty apparent that J.R. Smith didn’t play at the collegiate level- his ability to be part of a team is nonexistant. Not to say that teamwork is never a part of a straight-to-NBA player’s resume (e.g. Kobe), but Melo shows the same game Smith does. Coincidence? I respect George Karl for holding back and not strangling both of them, because I know the urge is there. I’m happy it panned out in Detroit’s favor, but it’s a shame that J.R. basically solidified the Nug’s loss with his selfish shot selection in the clutch.

•Arron Afflalo. Six HUGE free throws. That’s called keeping your composure.

•Do we even need Rip and Sheed back? Their absences have been felt, but Detroit has pulled out a W in each of the last nine games, save a very narrow loss in Portland. Let them rest, Arron and Amir gotcha back.

•Does altitude affect the rims? I haven’t seen more in-and-out shots for the entire season combined as I saw last night, for both sides.

•Dice seemed to feed off the boos. Sounds like Denver is still a bit sour about the buyout.

The Answer notched 25 points on 7-12 shooting.  It’s a beautiful sight to see AI meshing in so well with Detroit’s system, I can honestly say I didn’t think the new-look Pistons would look this good, this fast.  Anybody who thinks Allen Iverson can’t adjust to the Pistons offense needs to re-assess- Tayshaun and Sheed both had more field goal attempts than Iverson.
Kobe Bryant held to 12-30 shooting.
The Pistons continue to give far too many offensive rebounds up.  The Lakers had 16 offensive boards, as opposed to Detroit’s 7.  Detroit compensated last night with their hot shooting, but those numbers aren’t going to fly in other situations.
Tayshaun was remarkable.
Arron Afflalo logged some heavy minutes, and made the best of his hefty time (26 minutes).  I keep noticing Iverson-Afflalo connections, particularly during streaking fast breaks, that could evolve to something notable soon.
Sasha Vujacic is an a**.

Harris scored 19 points in the third quarter alone.  He was aquired from Dallas as part of the Jason Kidd trade last season.

Allen Iverson scored 24 points in his Pistons’ debut and notched 6 assists and a steal.  He definitely looked like the AI I know, taking the ball to the rim and drawing double and triple teams, then kicking it out if he hadn’t already drawn a foul.  He looked extremely good, considering he is still very unfamiliar with Detroit’s gameplans.

Unfortunately, Iverson’s kick-outs often ended up in Tayshaun’s hands.  Tay was the victim of another notorious off-night following a big game.  He had 27 points on Wednesday night, only to follow it by missing 11 of his 15 shots last night (27% shooting).  In my opinion, he was the X factor in this one.

Congrats go out to Chauncey and the Nuggets, they downed the Mavs (in Dallas) 108-105 in Billups’ first game.  He had 15 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

Regardless, keep your eye on AI and the Pistons, they won’t let last night’s game get them down.

Detroit pulled off a 100-93 win in Toronto yesterday night- without Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess, or Allen Iverson.  Chauncey still hasn’t taken his physical over in Denver, but it is scheduled for today so Iverson is almost guaranteed against the Nets on Friday.

It was “one of those games” for Tayshaun, who knocked down 10 of 13 and finished with 27 points, 9 rebounds.  He was unguardable last night, swooping to the bucket at will.

There were so many second-chance points that fell in favor of Detroit.  I can’t remember how many times Amir or Sheed would tip the ball in after a miss, or swipe it back up to Stuckey or Bynum at the point.

On the subject of Will Bynum, what can I say about him?  He really came out of nowhere.  The guy can get to the rim at any time, whenever he wants to.  His box score doesn’t show it, but he has some serious potential and I hope his role only expands.  Wonder why we’re winning without an Iverson or a Billups?  There’s your answer.

Jose Calderon has nothing on Rodney Stuckey.

Bosh was a force last night, and even though he missed 13 of his 24 attempts, he was the reason Toronto was as close as they were.

Sheed hit a monster three ball from about 6 feet behind the line.

Amir Johnson picked up his first foul 51 seconds into the game.  I know the refs are a bit tough on him, but he really just has to learn to play defense that isn’t right up on the other man.