There was an excitement in the air at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

They weren’t in uniform yet, but with Reggie Jackson on the bench in street clothes and Tayshaun Prince on his way home, the new found Palace energy was undeniable.

Both players’ starting positions were up for grabs. Spencer Dinwiddie and Caron Butler took advantage of the opportunity, playing major roles in the victory. Butler gave us steady scoring all night, and Dinwiddie dominated Derrick Rose.

The rookie point guard committed zero second half turnovers while Rose launched brick after brick, never looking quite right. They each suffered the same injury recently, and Dinwiddie could be seen after the game talking to Rose about it. Our Piston’s aggressiveness continued to pick up as the game went on.

Detroit proved too physical for Chicago. Andre Drummond hauled in 20 rebounds and scored 18, showcasing a polished hook shot. Greg Monroe scored twenty, battling Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah all night long. We shut them both down. Gasol looked weak, and Noah can’t score – him and his shot put eventually fouled out.

The Pistons took an early lead until the Bulls closed the first quarter on enough of a run to tie it. They did the same in the second, taking a tie game and turning it into an eight point halftime lead in the final minutes. Those were the only two decent stretches of basketball they played.

Detroit brought much more energy to the table despite the roster featuring just ten men. We came out like gang busters to begin the second half, quickly tying it back up. Finally, we won the third quarter by 17 points. You could feel the game coming to the Pistons, and some nerves found their way into our offense. We couldn’t score early on in the fourth, but our defense was intact.

Chicago was so desperate towards the end that they resorted to Hack-An-Andre, deja vu from last night’s Clippers game. All it does is make grown men upset. Why give us a reason? The Palace clamped down on D (like we always do), cheering strong. When they cut it down to five, “Moose” Monroe drained a fall-away fade with no time on the shot clock (and three minutes remaining).

With the taste of victory clinging to the air, all we had to do was seal it at the free throw line. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed two. Monroe split a pair. Drummond struggled. That’s when we turned to the veteran Butler, who iced it down the stretch for us. As the clock crept under a minute, Caldwell-Pope threw down a breakaway jam to put us at 100 and too far ahead for Chicago.