Well, after a promising start the other night against Memphis, the Pistons came back for the home opener against the lowly OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER. A team that was kidnapped to the OK city from Seattle, and who won just 23 games, and at times looked like a middle of the road college team last year. But it's a new year, and everybody has got TRAINING CAMP FEVER! And training camp fever is where you play way over your heads and talent, do everything the coaches demanded, and you win games you're not supposed to. And then that wears off after a few games, reality sets in, and you have a skunk of a team or a gem hiding in the weeds. Tonight the Pistons were the skunk and the Thunder was the gem, as they fall 91 to 83. But before we go on, SOUND THE GONG!

Sound the Gong for the big red number 6, from Virgina Union University, Big Ben Wallace, GONG, GONG, GONG! Except for Ben Gordon and Stuckey, Ben Wallace was about the only thing going. That guy is a pleasure to watch, and I truly enjoy watching him busting his butt, setting the tone for the rest of these guys. Ben was all over the place, blocking shots, taking charges, rebounding, and dropping out a few dimes to his new/old team. After what I saw tonight, the only thing missing was CHAUNCEY AND RASHEED! For 3 years, we saw what it was like NOT TO HAVE BEN WALLACE, back there in the paint defending the NO FLY ZONE! Rasheed tried, to the point where they just started picking on him, he got worn out and down, and kept looking over his shoulder for an imaginary Big Ben, WHO WAS NOT THERE ANYMORE! And tonight, whenever Ben went off the floor, the Thunder thumped it down in the paint. He can't do it all anymore, he can't play a lot of minutes, but you sure could've fooled me! He did everything he could, but not even dressing up as Hooper, would've saved this RIPLESS TEAM!

Flat out, despite the good coaching of John Kuester, nothing could keep this team in the game in the second half. They just didn't have any answers or BIG SHOTS! At one point, OKC had no points in the paint, shot 25%, and when Ben left, they had 12 straight points, and found out how to play defense and make people PAY for what they get. SOUNDS FAMILIAR! OKC flipped the script, and made us shoot 25% and struggle down the stretch. And except for 2, this was all done without them shooting threes. It was a good back and forth game to watch, that made you not want to channel surf! But it was the Pistons who ran out of gas. Tay, had 11 and found his way on the side of the milk carton. The Brow, Charlie Villanueva, bricked his way into 8 points, and added a small addition to the back of the Palace. Will Bynum got punished for his 11 points and 2 assists. And if it wasn't for Lil Ben, Ben Gordon's 25, OK City, would've enjoyed a bigger night in the Palace. The bottomline for this game, THE PISTONS CAN'T SCORE, and that was against Oklahoma Freaking City. And without Rip, and the scoring and chemistry he brings, it ain't looking pretty folks! Tonight, we sure could've used a BIG SHOT or for the BALL NOT TO LIE!

It's just two games, and there's only 80 more to go, but this team is now 1 and 1. Good to hear Mason and his Detroit Basketball calls again! Too bad he said it for a bunch of LIBRARIANS. That crowd sounded like it was Pistons playoff game of late, dead on arrival!
They tried, they played hard, and that's all you can ask with this team at this stage of their development. This year, you're gonna find out what it is to be a REAL PISTON FAN!