AUBURN HILLS -- For 12 minutes Tuesday, the Pistons showed why fans are starting to regain their passion for the team.
It wasn't enough -- it wasn't even particularly close to being enough against a very good Indiana Pacers team -- but it was something that the lethargic teams of the past few years couldn't have done.
Detroit was losing 29-14 at the end of the first quarter to one of the better teams in the NBA -- the exact position that would have seen one of Lawrence Frank's teams end up on the short end of a 30-point blowout. Instead, the Pistons stepped up their defensive game, held the Pacers to nine points in the second quarter and took a 41-38 lead into halftime.
Indiana came back with 36 points in the third quarter and won 99-91, but there had been a spark of something in that quarter.
"We matched their physicality in spurts, and that's a good lesson learned for us," said Josh Smith. "To beat a good team that established, you have to be able to do that for 48 minutes, and we didn't do that. This game gives us a chance to see where we need to be."
It was the first time that Maurice Cheeks had been able to use his preferred starting lineup -- Smith, Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe, Chauncey Billups and Brandon Jennings -- and they looked like a group that hadn't seen much time together. Four of the five were a minus-15 or worse for the game -- Jennings was only a minus-7, while Smith finished at minus-28 and Monroe at minus-22.
"That's a team that has been together for quite some time, at least a lot of the Pacers have, and we don't have that," Smith said. "As long as keep striving to get there and find out what we like to do on the court, we will be OK."
Detroit's biggest problem was one that is expected to haunt them all season -- a lack of shooting. The players the Pistons count on to spread the floor by making 3-pointers -- Billups, Jennings, Kyle Singler and Gigi Datome -- combined to make just one 3-pointer in 15 attempts. Smith tried to help out -- he's a very willing 3-point shooter if not a good one -- but he missed five of his six triples.
"There are nights when shots go in and there are going to be nights when shots don't go in," Cheeks said. "That's why you have to play tough defense, because that's something you can do on a consistent basis.
"Tonight, Brandon had some wide-open shots that he'll make down the road, but they didn't go in. We played Gigi against Luis Scola, thinking he could get some open shots. He did, but they didn't go in.
"You don't want to say it was about shot selection, because there are times you take a bad shot and you make it, and suddenly it is a good shot. There's always some of both in a game."
Detroit's inability to hit jumpers allowed Indiana to play off the perimeter shooters and take away Drummond and Monroe inside. They still combined for 20 points and 19 rebounds, but the Pistons were only able to shoot 49 percent in the paint.
"They were the aggressors tonight, and we didn't match them," Cheeks said. "They packed the paint, but we still need to attack the rim, and either get baskets or get to the free-throw line. It's easier to do that when you hit outside shots, but you still have to do it."
The Pistons lack anyone with the consistent 3-point range to scare teams -- Billups had it when the Pistons were playing in the NBA finals, but there are a lot more years on his legs these days -- so they need to be able to find a way to win when they aren't hitting those shots.
Smith said it is a simple solution, one that won NBA championships in Detroit as far back as the Bad Boys.
"You have to play defense," he said. "Basketball is a game of imperfections, and offense is going to come and go, but you can always buckle down on defense. We didn't do enough of that tonight."
