AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Nothing spices up the weekend like a little variety – except for a lot of variety. And that’s what the Weekend Plan provides Pistons fans looking for a great bargain in a partial season-ticket package.

The Weekend Plan includes 11 home games for the price of 10 – with an attractive preseason game thrown in for free – with all games on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday conveniently spread from October through April.

Three pricing options for the Weekend Plan – which includes an Oct. 14 preseason game against the Allen Iverson-Carmelo Anthony Denver Nuggets plus the 11 regular-season games for the price of 10 – are available at $400, $350 and $250.

“The mini-ticket plans give fans a combination of great value and great entertainment,” said John Ciszewski, executive vice president for corporate sales at Palace Sports & Entertainment. “We really try to come up with attractive packages at affordable prices so Pistons fans across the state are able to share the gameday experience at The Palace. Fans who get a taste of that experience almost always tell us how much fun it is and how much they’d like to come back again and again. We think the Weekend Plan is going to appeal to a great number of basketball fans because of the great variety of teams and stars included.”

You want teams that go into the season thinking they might have to knock off the Pistons to win the NBA title? Try this lineup: the defending champion San Antonio Spurs (March 14), the 67-win Dallas Mavericks (Feb. 3), Eastern Conference champion Cleveland (March 29) and Western Conference finalist Utah (Nov. 25).

Those games alone will bring to The Palace of Auburn Hills MVP Dirk Nowitzki; perennial All-Stars Tim Duncan and LeBron James; NBA Finals MVP Tony Parker; and emerging stars like Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, both vying for berths on Team USA, and ex-Piston Mehmet Okur.

The burgeoning Pistons-Cavs rivalry, stoked by consecutive postseason matchups, should really be on

2007-08 Weekend Plan
	Sunday, Nov. 4	Atlanta
	Sunday, Nov. 25	Utah
	Friday, Dec. 7	Chicago
	Friday, Dec. 21	Memphis
	Friday, Jan. 18	Sacramento
	Sunday, Feb. 3	Dallas
	Friday, Feb. 22	Milwaukee
	Friday, Mar. 14	San Antonio
	Saturday, Mar. 29	Cleveland
	Friday, Apr. 4	New Jersey
	Sunday, Apr. 13	Toronto
Click here to purchase a mini-plan

the front burner by the time late March rolls around. And the Pistons know that any of those three Western Conference contenders – Dallas, San Antonio or Utah – could await them in the NBA Finals should the Pistons advance to the conference finals for the sixth consecutive season and move on.

How about teams who think they’re poised to challenge for supremacy in the Eastern Conference? Chicago (Dec. 7), New Jersey (April 4) and Toronto (April 13) all will be jockeying for playoff positioning with the Pistons.

And all of them carry current, former or future All-Stars in abundance, including ex-Piston Ben Wallace, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich of Chicago; New Jersey’s Big Three of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson; and Toronto’s young frontcourt tandem of Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani, runner-up for 2007 Rookie of the Year.

With a quality young nucleus in place in Chicago and Joe Dumars intent on extending Detroit’s reign in the East, the Pistons-Bulls rivalry is approaching a rapid boil. New Jersey, which lost twice at the buzzer at The Palace last season, kept its core intact and has strong reason to think the return of a healthy Nenad Krstic will vault the Nets back into Eastern contention. And Toronto, which added to its intriguing nucleus of international players by picking up Carlos Delfino from the Pistons, sees itself as the team to beat in the Atlantic Division and ready to take another leap forward after a strong 2006-07 finish.

A third group of teams in the Weekend Plan includes teams fortified by 2007 NBA draft lottery picks: Atlanta (Nov. 4, the season opener) with No. 3 pick Al Horford and point guard Acie Law; Memphis (Dec. 21) with Ohio State point guard Mike Conley, the No. 4 overall pick; Sacramento (Jan. 18) with 7-footer Spencer Hawes; and Milwaukee featuring 7-foot Chinese star Yi Jianlian.

The Hawks, beset by injury a year ago, think the addition of Law will address a glaring point-guard void and have Atlanta contending for a playoff berth at last. Memphis resisted tempting trade offers for Spanish superstar Pao Gasol, giving him frontcourt help by signing free agent Darko Milicic and handing the offense over to the whippet-quick Conley, who teamed with Greg Oden to take Ohio State to the national championship game as freshmen.

Despite rampant trade rumors, Sacramento has retained desirable veteran stars Mike Bibby and Ron Artest. Under new coach Reggie Theus, the Kings believe the return of a healthy Brad Miller to pair with Hawes up front and shooter deluxe Kevin Martin will make them a contender again.

Milwaukee was another team whose playoff hopes were crushed by injury a year ago, but the Bucks think Yi – an athletic 7-footer with a sweet perimeter touch – will be the perfect complement to a lineup built around sniper Michael Redd, former No. 1 pick Andrew Bogut and free agent point guard Mo Williams.