The PRE Report - April 6, 2010

It’s been nearly three months since the Pistons' last-minute 90-86 victory at Philadelphia. It may feel even longer than that for coach John Kuester and the players, who are in the midst of an 11-game losing streak.

“We’re going to go out and play hard,” said center Ben Wallace, who has averaged 10.7 rebounds in three games against the Sixers. “We’re going to go out and do what we gotta do, try to get a win. Still, every time we step on the floor, you want to win, regardless of if it’s the first game, last game, playoff game, whatever.”

The Pistons haven’t been to the Wachovia Center since Dec. 9, when Rodney Stuckey hit a second-chance jumper with eight seconds left to break an 86-86 tie. Stuckey finished with 27 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

“(Stuckey)’s gone through a number of ups and downs because he cares but I thought that the Philly shot was a great one for us at that time,” Kuester said. The 90-86 victory was Detroit’s third road win of the season; they are 4-22 away from The Palace since. The last six defeats have come during the current skid.

“We earned this early vacation,” said Wallace, who will miss the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons. “Ain’t nobody go out there and play for us. We went out there and we did it. We didn’t get it done the way we were supposed to do it. We earned this early vacation, but that don’t need to be the case from here on out. We just got to get better.”

Wallace did not play Saturday in the 91-85 loss at Atlanta, a preventative measure to save his achy knees from action on consecutive nights. In Wallace’s place Kwame Brown contributed eight points and eight boards in his first start of the season. Brown had a season-high 11 points – making seven of eight free throws – and five rebounds off the bench at Philly on Dec. 9.

Brown won’t match the season-high 29 minutes he saw in Atlanta, but remains the most viable option behind Wallace with Jason Maxiell (back sprain) and Chris Wilcox (left hamstring) unlikely to play.

The best news on the injury front is that Rip Hamilton, who sprained his right ankle on Mar. 28 and missed the next three games, practiced Monday and will be a game-time decision. Hamilton already missed the Dec. 9 game at Philadelphia with a sprained ankle, and then missed his first 10 shots in a 104-94 loss to the Sixers at The Palace in January, finishing with 12 points. Hamilton is averaging a team-high 18.1 points.

Keep an eye on 6-foot-11 forward Charlie Villanueva, who has shot 27.3 percent (6-of-22) in the last two games after not leaving the bench for six straight quarters. Villanueva may have received some unwelcomed news, based on posts to his Twitter account Monday afternoon.

“This has been a very frustrating year, it just only got worse 2day,” Villanueva tweeted. “I have never experienced, in my 5 years, what I have experience this year.” He later added that he wouldn’t comment further to avoid being fined, and in a separate tweet said that he “just needed to vent a little.”

The Sixers, with three wins in their last 10 games, are at the end of a frustrating season, too. Elton Brand, who has averaged 9.8 rebounds over his 11-year career, went without a rebound for the first time as a pro Saturday. The Sixers lost at home in overtime to Toronto, 128-123, for their third straight defeat. Brand scored a game-high 25 points off the bench at The Palace Jan. 9.

The Sixers' explosive backcourt led the way Saturday. Andre Igoudala had 33 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in nearly 50 minutes and rookie guard Jrue Holiday added a career-high 25 points and seven assists.

“We’ve got to be ready to play tomorrow and realize that these guys have played with a tremendous amount of passion in regards to scoring the way they’re capable of. They get up and down the court,” Kuester said. “We’ve got to have our running shoes on.”

Holiday missed the Dec. 9 game with a strained right rotator cuff. He had six points and six assists Jan. 9 while playing behind Allen Iverson. When Iverson left the team in late February, the 6-foot-4 Holiday blossomed as a full-time starter. In March (17 games), Holiday averaged 13.2 points, 5.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 35.1 minutes per game.