Four Pistons were named to the 2006 NBA All-Star game, Tayshaun Prince the lone unrecognized starter. And Pistons fans thought he should have been there, too, because on many nights during that 64-win season Prince was as valuable as any of his teammates.

But his numbers never made the case boldly enough for Prince’s supporters to argue his merits more convincingly. The next time it comes up, maybe this will help: When at least one of the Pistons’ four other usual starters isn’t in the opening lineup – which has happened 11 times in 63 games this season – Tayshaun Prince puts up All-Star numbers.

In those 11 games – Prince, an NBA ironman who has played in all 82 games in every season since his rookie year and is the only Piston starter to play in all 63 this season – Prince is averaging 20.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists. Not only are those numbers dramatically better than his overall numbers of 13.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.25 assists, so are his number of field-goal and free-throw attempts and his percentages in both categories.

The differences are even more dramatic when you compare Prince’s statistics in the 11 games in which one starter has not been in the opening lineup to the 52 in which all five starters have been available. In those 52 games, Prince’s numbers dip to 12.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists and his percentages and attempts are down across the board from his overall statistics.

Perhaps even more telling, the Pistons are 8-3 in those 11 games that Prince has picked up the slack, a winning percentage of .727 that is virtually identical to their overall winning percentage of .730 and to their 38-14 record, also a .730 winning percentage, in games where all five starters have been available.

In other words, Tayshaun Prince is statistically a much better player when Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace or Antonio McDyess can’t play, and he’s better significantly enough that the Pistons are virtually the same team with or without one or more of those other starters.

Star Turn

Tayshaun Prince’s numbers in all games, the 11 games where the Pistons have been missing at least one starter and in the 52 games where all five starters have been in the opening lineup: Pts Rebs Assts FGA FTA FG% FT% All games 13.8 4.8 3.25 11.8 3.2 45 78.6 Minus starter 20.5 5.7 4.4 14.45 4.9 54 83.3 With every starter 12.3 4.6 3.0 11.2 2.8 42.4 76.8 Key – Pts (points per game); Rebs (rebounds per game); Assts (assists per game); FGA (field-goal attempts per game); FTA (free-throw attempts per game); FG% (field-goal percentage); FT% (free throw percentage)

“He becomes a focal point,” Chauncey Billups told me after Sunday’s game when Wallace missed his second straight with a sprained ankle and Prince gave the Pistons 21 points, six rebounds and six assists in 39 minutes while limiting Luol Deng to 6 of 16 shooting for much of the game and holding red-hot Ben Gordon scoreless for the approximately six minutes he guarded him in the fourth quarter on a night Gordon scored 27.

“Not to say he’s not a focal point when we all play, but when somebody’s down … Tay has probably about the hardest job on our team. When everybody is playing and two or three guys aren’t rolling, you go to him and it’s like, ‘You’ve got to get us out of a jam.’ That’s a lot of pressure to put on somebody. It’s a bad situation to be in, to be honest. But he takes it. And then when one of our starters sits down, it’s like, ‘Come on,’ and he’s always there. You can count on him every time.”

Prince has often said that when Billups or Hamilton are out and the Pistons either let him initiate the offense or run it through him, he finds it much easier to get into the flow of the game. But when they’re both playing and looking for post touches for Rasheed Wallace, Prince sometimes goes long stretches with no or relatively few touches. Then the basketball feels like a foreign object when they go to him.

The other thing that affects Prince’s performance – and almost certainly accounts for his 42.4 field-goal percentage in the 52 games with every starter in the lineup vs. his 54 percent mark in the 11 other games – is that after the Pistons run through options for Billups, Hamilton and Wallace, Prince often finds himself with the ball as the shot clock is winding down, forcing shots he wouldn’t normally take.

When Hamilton missed the season’s first two games to attend to the birth of his son, Prince had 34 points and 12 rebounds in the win at Miami and came back the next night with 17 points and six assists in a rout of Orlando. He scored 22 in a comeback win against Golden State when both Billups and McDyess were out and 16 to go with nine rebounds in a narrow road loss to the Lakers with the same two still idle.

Prince had 19 and five in a road loss at Sacramento with McDyess missing and Billups just back from knee and hip injuries, then had 15 points and seven rebounds when the Pistons beat Philadelphia without Wallace. In a loss to Utah without Wallace, Prince played probably his least impressive game of the 11 – 13 points, three rebounds and five assists.

When Wallace didn’t start but still played 30 minutes off the bench while battling the flu in a win at Memphis, Prince had 19, seven and five. In a road win against the Clippers without Billups to end their recent four-game Western swing, Prince had 22 points and 10 assists. Against the Knicks last Friday with Wallace out, he had 28 points and seven rebounds.

“He’s had some big games for us,” Flip Saunders said. “He’s been aggressive to the rim. I like to see him where he’s putting it on the floor and putting a lot of pressure on (defenses). Not only does he get to the bucket and score, but he becomes a playmaker.”