Beloved former Pistons Bill Laimbeer returns tonight, slightly less beloved Darko Milicic will not

Essentials

Teams: Minnesota Timberwolves at Detroit Pistons

Date: March 2,  2011

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Television: Fox Sports Detroit

Records

Pistons: 22-40

T-Wolves: 22-36

Probable starters

Pistons:

• Rodney Stuckey
• Ben Gordon
• Austin Daye
• Chris Wilcox
• Greg Monroe

T-Wolves:

• Luke Ridnour
• Wes Johnson
• Michael Beasley
• Kevin Love
• Darko Milicic Nikola Pekovic

Las Vegas projection

Spread: Pistons -4.5

Over/under: 203

Score: Pistons win, 103.75-99.25

Three things to watch

1.  The Laimbeer watch

I wrote about the ratcheting up of the ‘Pistons should hire Bill Laimbeer to coach‘ movement the other day. Laimbeer, a Minnesota assistant will be at the Palace tonight, and his daughter, Keri Laimbeer, predicts the crowd could put their two cents in:

who thinks that there will be some sort of chant/yelling for my dad to coach the Pistons during the game tomorrow in Detroit? #raiseshand

2. Kevin Love on the verge of history

Love heads into tonight’s game with 47 straight double-doubles. He’s three away from the record. Last time he played the Pistons, Love had 27 and 18, so don’t expect Detroit’s front line to be the team that stops his streak.

3. Wes Johnson is surging

It goes unnoticed because Minnesota is such a bad team, but Wes Johnson is potentially going to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Here’s Kurt Rambis on Johnson’s development:

“We’re encouraging Wes to be an impactful player all over the floor,” Rambis said. “We want him to open up his mind to the tremendous amount versatility he has. All of those areas of the game, he can make a contribution in to help us win. I just don’t know if he’s even thought of himself that way. We want to encourage him to think that way.”

Johnson is getting more playing time with Corey Brewer traded and in his last three games, he’s scored 17 or more each night.

Pregame Reading

1. The Pistons let Jon Brockman make a poster last night
2. Cool gig for Need4Sheed’s Natalie Sitto
3. The Freep compiles a list of Joe Dumars’ votes of confidence for various coaches
4. Allen Iverson’s Detroit tenure ranks among Basketball Reference’s ‘Charlie Sheen Moments’
5. A Wolf Among Wolves breaks down the Lakers’ success against Minnesota

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