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Don't think for a minute this recent cold spell has caused Pistons president Joe Dumars to second-guess his decision last summer to keep his core group of players together for another title run. "I feel good about where we are, even in light of the last couple of games," Dumars said. "Games like that (recent losses to New York, Sacramento and Chicago) are inevitable and you can't allow your emotions to get out of whack. You look at it, we've come back and we have the second-best record in the league. We're playing good ball, we've had some great road wins and we continue to be a contender and one of the elite teams in the league." Despite a 5-5 lull this month, the Pistons' 29-12 record at the mid-point indeed is second only to Boston in the NBA and it's the third-best 41-game mark in team history. They had an 11-game winning streak, are 14-4 at The Palace and posted impressive road victories at Boston and San Antonio.
"We've had a good first half," Chauncey Billups said. "There have been a couple of stretches we didn't like. We're not happy about the last couple of games, but we're happy with where we are at."
In addition to the victories, Dumars' key preseason mandates are being met. He wanted coach Flip Saunders to develop a stronger bench, groom and incorporate rookies Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo and keep the minutes of his veteran starting group down. "You always get a little bit greedy when you are going through the process and you want to do more," Saunders said. "But despite having guys injured and things, overall, our bench has been productive. We've been playing so many games recently that this current (unproductive) stretch kind of gets magnified. Basically, the bench hasn't played well for about 10 days all year." Recent struggles aside, the reserves, led by Jason Maxiell, Jarvis Hayes, Stuckey and Afflalo, are averaging 26 points, the best bench production since the championship run of 2003-04. And that's despite only having Stuckey (broken left hand) available for 16 games. Just as important, no starter is averaging more than 35 minutes.
