‘TOO COOL’

The Pistons are as close to being locked in as the No. 2 seed as it gets with more than a month still left, which made Wednesday’s game with Philadelphia a potential playoff matchup. Maybe that wouldn’t be the foregone conclusion you might assume, considering the 76ers have now won 13 of their last 17 games – including an 83-82 win over the Pistons that began so ominously Flip Saunders was moved to get all 12 players into the game two minutes into the second quarter. “We were terrible,” he said. “I was trying to find somebody who could play.” He never did to a sufficient degree. Philly took a 12-point lead early. And about when it looked like the Pistons had overcome their sluggish start, when Rip Hamilton threw a deep lob that Jason Maxiell dunked with eight minutes left to give them a three-point lead, things went south again. Chauncey Billups had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but his step-back 18-footer missed. The bright spot? Hey, the way 76ers are playing, they won’t be the No. 7 seed for long.

SAUNDERS: “As I told our starters, we put our bench in a very awkward situation. When you play that bad, with that lack of energy early, every play is a huge play. We just played too cool. That’s been the rap – we play too cool at times and we didn’t get nasty. The score is no indication of how we played. Losing by one, we played a lot worse than that.”

HAMILTON: “We know the game is about what team makes the run at the right time. We thought we did. But I think they shot like (10) free throws in that (fourth) quarter. It was tough. We just had to figure out a way to win, but they played hard and got a win.”

The story of the game in Pistons red, white and blue

– Rasheed Wallace returned and played better than any of his teammates with 17 points and five boards, but it’s tough when a guy goes 1 of 7 from the 3-point arc to consider him white hot. So let’s give it to Philly reserve Rodney Carney, who came in averaging 5.2 points on 40 percent shooting in 14 minutes a game and left with 16 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes. Carney, a 20 percent 3-point shooter who’s taken only 64 all season, made 2 of 3. His deep 2-pointer with 2:27 left gave Philly a five-point lead.

Blue Collar – Except for a 1 of 6 start at the free-throw line that had Wallace telling him he shot free throws like Rick Mahorn – a conversation that took place, of course, within earshot of Mahorn at the scorer’s table – Antonio McDyess showed signs of life. Coming into the game mired in a scoring slump that had spilled over into the rebounding and defensive staples of his game, McDyess made several eye-catching plays – none bigger than the one-hand tip jam of a Hamilton 3-point miss to give the Pistons a 56-54 lead, their first since it was 7-6. McDyess ended up 6 of 12 at the line, scoring 14 points to go with 11 boards and three blocks.

BILLUPS: “Our bigs played well. Sheed came back, looked good out there. Dice was huge. Played really spirited out there. The backcourt and all the other players kind of struggled a little bit. But we win when everybody is playing well.”

Red Flag – If the Pistons and Philly meet in the playoffs, they might want to try avoiding a Hamilton-Andre Igoudala matchup. Igoudala is normally Philly’s small forward, but with Willie Green out of the lineup the Sixers swung him back to shooting guard and started rookie Thaddeus Young at forward opposite Reggie Evans. Hamilton gave up nine points on 4 of 4 shooting to Igoudala before Saunders went to Arron Afflalo late in the first quarter. Tayshaun Prince (13 points, four rebounds) checked Igoudala most of the rest of the night and he finished 6 of 22 – 2 of 18 after his sizzling start – for a game-high 22 points. That left Hamilton – also subpar offensively with nine points on 2 of 7 shooting – guarding Carney down the stretch and Carney was 4 of 5 in the fourth quarter.

SAUNDERS: “Rip played like he was in New York (when he was ejected last Friday) – he had no energy tonight. (Carney) was floating and Rip wasn’t finding him. He made some shots.”

Pivotal plays, frozen moments and lasting images from a forgettable loss

REDEMPTION MISSED – As poorly as the Pistons played, maybe it would have been an injustice had Billups’ last shot gone in. And it might have if he had gone right up with it from about 15 feet with the smaller Louis Williams guarding him. But Billups tried to create more space by pivoting away from Williams, which allowed Carney to come over and double team him. Billups, seeing the double, pump-faked before launching a tough shot that still looked like it had a chance but hit the rim on the other side and bounced away.

BILLUPS: “In hindsight, if I knew I had the shot the first time, I wouldn’t have come back. I just wanted to rock him and get him off balance. Once I turned, I saw the double team come and the clock was going down. I didn’t want to put the next man, which would have been Rip, in a tough spot, throwing the ball with one or two seconds left. That’s really not fair to do that to somebody. So I took the shot. Still got a good look, but it’s not a shot I usually shoot.”

GOING BIG – Flip Saunders dropped a little bit of a bomb before the game when he suggested the Pistons might buck the NBA trend of going small by going big – really big. Like playing Wallace at small forward with Theo Ratliff and Amir Johnson, perhaps.

SAUNDERS: “We don’t have to (play small ball) a lot because of Rasheed’s ability to shoot the basketball. At some point we’re going to tinker with a big lineup. We’re going to play Rasheed at the three. You’ll probably see that at some point. … He’s out at the 3-point line a lot, so he thinks he’s a small forward. If he was a 6-3 guard, all he’d want to do is post up all the time. That’s Rasheed.”

FOREVER YOUNG – When the Pistons’ draft slot in last year’s first round fell to 15th – the pick they got from Orlando in the Darko Milicic trade – they zeroed in on four prospects. One of them was Georgia Tech freshman forward Thaddeus Young. It was a mild surprise when Philadelphia made him the 12th pick. Though talented, it was thought Young was raw and a few years from contributing – and the struggling 76ers needed immediate help. He didn’t play much early, but moved into the starting lineup in February – a move that coincided with the hot streak that carried Philly into The Palace. Young scored eight points in the first half and finished with 10, though the Pistons targeted him in the third quarter by allowing Prince to take him off the dribble.

A little perspective on a flat performance

Can there be such a thing as too many options for a coach? Maybe. The fact Saunders went to all 12 players 14 minutes into the game and has said he’s using the next stretch of the season to search for combinations that might click is both good news and bad. The addition of Theo Ratliff, for instance, holds intriguing possibilities. But would the Pistons be better off setting a rotation and sticking to it so the bench players get enough playing time to build confidence rather than splitting up the table scraps and constantly looking over their shoulders. Amir Johnson, who had played so well since entering the rotation, played five minutes in the first half but never returned. Saunders hinted afterward that some decisions might be coming sooner rather than later.

SAUNDERS: “I thought about using (Johnson), but Rasheed was going good and Dice was rebounding the ball. It’s impossible for us to play 12. We do have to face that fact at some point. I can play Amir next game and you can ask me why I’m not playing Jason (Maxiell) or not playing Theo. We can have that conversation every night.”