[Box score] Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups aren’t too accustomed to losing games in consecutive fashion here with the Pistons, so tonight against Philly they made sure streak made an abrupt halt at 3 games beating the 76ers at the Wachovia Center 86-78.

Detroit’s all-star backcourt weren’t messing around from the jump. The two combined to score the Pistons first 19 points of the contest. They didn’t miss a single basket in the first half going 11/11 with no turnovers at the halfway point either. For the game they combined for 40 points with Chauncey’s 19 (with 5 assists) and Rip’s 21.

The Pistons were shooting the rock at a 58% clip for the first half. They finished off the 2nd quarter on a 18-5 run. The Sixers were within 9 though 50-41 because of the second chance scoring by sending multiple guys to the offensive glass. Tayshaun paced the Pistons with 8 of his 16 in the 2nd quarter.

The Pistons got a big boost in the 2nd quarter from their bench who as we know have been having a rough go of it as of late. Arron Afflalo (6 pts) came in and gave the Pistons great hustle and energy playing alongside Chauncey Billups in the Piston backcourt.

And, then there’s Amir Johnson who got some meaningful minutes first entering the game at the 8:12 mark in the 2nd because of some early fouls on Jason Maxiell and also the effort he’s been putting forth in Pistons’ practices. Amir worked hard on the offensive glass and also doing the little things that will hopefully earn him more minutes. He logged just under 15 in this one getting burn in all quarters but the first scoring 5 points and grabbing 5 boards (4 offensive). The Pistons were a +12 with Amir in the game.

Afflalo’s rookie backcourt mate Stuckey had a rough go. He wasn’t able to score in his 12 minutes on the court going 0/4 from the field, which was accentuated by a blown breakaway dunk that, to his credit, was off a good step-in-front steal he made. He’s still adjusting after missing all that time with the broken hand. I’m confident he’ll find his way.

The bench scored 15 of their 17 points in the first half.

Detroit got their lead up to 14in the 3rd quarter but the 76ers are a pretty hard working team. The kept at it and were able to trim the lead down to 7, 70-63, by quarter’s end. To the Sixers credit they fought hard and never let the Pistons run away with this game.

It was good to see the boys in Pistons’ blue win a game they should after some disappointing losses. I was thinking before the game that it would be pretty hard to rationalize or make an excuse for another L tonight. The energy seemed to carry over from the Orlando loss. The Pistons got 7 steals and blocked 6 Philly shots. The offense is looking a bit more crisp with the ball moving more. The most pleasing part had to be the aggressiveness. The Pistons were going to the hoop instead of settling for jumpers. They actually ended up making more free throws (17) than the Sixer attempted (13).

Like I mentioned, Philly played hard and fought the good fight. Their 47-33 rebounding edge probably kept this game from being a blowout.

Philly is a good place for the Pistons to look for a win as they’ve now won 6 straight there and 8 of their last 9.