The Pistons managed to overcome a 22-point deficit Wednesday night to hand the Warriors their sixth straight loss to open the season.

Not bad for a team missing two starters – Chauncey Billups (right hip, left knee) and Antonio McDyess (left shoulder)

This speaks volumes about the depth of the Central Division-leading Pistons, that, despite missing a pair of their top players, they could stage such a massive comeback in the second game of back-to-back road contests in the midst of an ever difficult western swing.

Starting in place of Mr. Big Shot and McDyess were Flip Murray and Jason Maxiell, respectively. Depending on the severity of Billups' and McDyess' health woes, each of these subs looks like an attractive short-term pickup. Murray scored 15 points, but more impressively, dropped a career-high 12 dimes last night; Maxiell, especially strong in the first half, finished with 14 points, 14 boards and three blocks.

Billups, who twisted his knee and bruised his hip on Tuesday, says the Golden St. doctors told him they think it's just a tweaked ligament, but he's going to have an MRI today in Los Angeles just to ensure nothing is torn. His status for Friday is currently unknown. McDyess' woe is not considered a long-term problem either, but we all know his extensive injury history. It's been several years since he was a full-time starter, and I have my doubts about his ability to handle that grind over the course of a full season, so Maxiell is definitely someone I want to pay close attention to.

As for the struggling Warriors, who somehow let a 10-point lead with 8:50 to go turn into a Piston lead by the 5:04 mark, they could not adapt in the second half when Detroit switched to a zone defense. Billups summed it up best, when the told The Detroit News, "They play too crazy, man."

Of course, I have no doubt that having Rasheed Wallace step up with 13 of his 22 points and five of his nine boards in the fourth quarter helped make Coach Don Nelson just a little bit crazier.

While Billups' owners hold their breath today in anticipation of finding out that this injury is not more serious than expected, let's review the rest of the hoops happening from Wednesday night…

• I can't seem to escape a Dose without mentioning LeBron James, but damn, did you see what he did last night? You've got to go back to 1968 to find the last time a player recorded at least this many points (39), rebounds (13) and assists (14) in one game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That man? Wilt Chamberlain. King James now has two triple doubles on the season, and he added two blocks and two treys, to cap an impressive shooting night (15-of-27). Could LeBron challenge Wilt the Stilt? Well, he likely won't ever match Wilt's claim of having 20,000 women, but you've got to be pretty blown away by what we're seeing from James this season. After a slow start, he's now averaging 28 PPG and he's currently headed for career highs in rebounds (7.5) and assists (7.9). He's also showing nice improvement from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, despite James' heroics, the Cavs are under .500 after dropping an OT contest to the resurgent Magic. Dwight Howard turned in his own massive line, going off for a season-high tying 35 points, 16 boards, four blocks and two assists to lead Orlando. Best sign of the night for Dwight? He nailed 13-of-16 from the line. Since his rookie season, he's really slipped in that department, but Howard has been much improved from the charity stripe this year, and that's a big key if he's going to take it to the next level.



• It's hard to get too excited about rookie Mike Conley, Jr. considering his sporadic PT and the three-headed PG situation in Memphis. But Coach Marc Iavaroni experimented with playing Conley alongside Kyle Lowry in the fourth quarter Wednesday, a move he said will be a "game-to-game" situation. Obviously, it's going to be hard to justify owning Conley if he doesn't have a clear-cut role, but in looking at what he's done when he's played (10 points and nine assists in 23 minutes on Saturday and six points with six assists last night), I'd recommend keeping a close eye on injury-prone Damon Stoudamire's PT and performance over the next little while. Memphis will likely be quick to jump on any excuse to up Conley's PT.



• It's going to be fun to track and decipher all these Kobe Bryant trade rumors this year. The latest one, reported by ESPN, suggested that Detroit had offered Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Amir Johnson and a first round pick, but Kobe killed it by exercising his veto power. Are you kidding me? The Pistons would give up that much for Bryant? Obviously, someone was a little overzealous here, as a Piston official said yesterday that this deal was never put on the table. Still, it's fascinating to imagine Kobe playing with a point guard as talented as Billups.

Injury Report

Well, at least it's not his back this time. T-Mac underwent an MRI on his right elbow, and the news was good, as it's only a strain. He's currently listed as day-to-day as he deals with inflammation around the elbow, but owners can rest easy that this is not a major worry. Still, let's hope the fact that the injury is to his shooting arm doesn't affect his game too much. McGrady has been absolutely lights out to begin the season, draining almost 47 percent of his shots from the floor, a career best.

Tip-ins: Joe Johnson had a major break-out game, scoring 34 points on 11-for-18 shooting, with 10 assists, five rebounds, a steal and a pair of treys. His steals, assists and boards are all up this year, but Johnson's scoring has been somewhat restricted thanks to some poor shooting, especially from downtown. He's jacking it up like never before from beyond the arc (six attempts per game), but his accuracy (28.6 percent) has never been worse…Zach Randolph will miss Friday's action because of his grandmother's funeral. David Lee will start in his place again…Starbury came off the bench last night, but he didn't exactly do much to improve his standing with the team, or his trade value, sinking just 4-of-12 shots and managing only four assists and a steal. We have no doubt that more drama is still to come…You better move fast on Rashad McCants after his 33-point explosion on Wednesday, which included four three-pointers. Obviously his ankle is just fine, thank you. He's still available in about two-fifths of the leagues out there, but not for long. He looks to have cemented his role as the starting two-guard in Minny…It doesn't look like Ron Artest is rusty at all after completing his seven-game suspension, returning last night for 17 points, six assists, three rebounds, three steals, a block and a trio of treys. John Salmons headed back to the bench for the Kings (and he was not at all please by this turn of events), but it looks like he'll remain the sixth man, so don't cut him just yet, especially with Mike Bibby still out…Speaking of returning stars, Dwyane Wade made his season debut Wednesday, scoring 15 points in 24 minutes on 5-of-9 shooting, with five assists, three steals, a rebound and a block. Of course, even with Flash back, Miami still couldn't stop the Sonics from winning their first game of the season…Speaking of Seattle, its three-headed PG beast is down to two for the next two-to-four weeks, the expected length of time Luke Ridnour will be sidelined after an MRI showed he has a torn left quad. In the meantime, both Earl Watson and Delonte West have some value and West, in particular, stepped up last night with 16 points, six assists and four rebounds. He could still emerge as the big winner here once Seattle finally makes a decision on its main man…So much for buying low on Gilbert Arenas. Agent Zero went off for 30 points with 11 assists, six rebounds, a block, a steal and three 3-pointers last night…I've been ordered to give some love to Josh Smith and Rudy Gay, but we've got bad news for Smoov owners, as he missed the second half yesterday with a quad injury. He's currently listed as day-to-day, but we'll know more later today. Gay, on the other hand, continues to rock and roll, pouring in another 26 points last night. Breakout city, baby…Smith wasn't the only Hawk to go down Wednesday; Acie Law sprained his ankle and, until he receives treatment today, we won't know how bad it is…Despite getting 27 points apiece from Gerald Wallace and Jason Richardson, the 'Cats fell back to .500 after losing to Atlanta. This was one of the more intriguing matchups of the night, because these are two young and talented teams each expected to show big improvements this season. It's early, but they are both in playoff positions currently, while Chicago and Miami sit in the conference cellar. Parallel universe?

Rob Blackstien runs www.RotoRob.com, a site featuring daily fantasy sports analysis. In addition to his baseball work on the site, he contributes to Rotoworld’s basketball coverage. Rob also writes for CREATiVESPORTS.com, BaseballNotebook.com and has contributed to Rotoman’s Fantasy Baseball Guide and Fantasy Football Guide.

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