[Box score] With Rasheed not available resting a sore ankle and Rip tossed before halftime Flip needed a concerted effort from his bench to beat the Knicks at the Garden.

The Pistons bench seeing more minutes than usual came through and atoned for their 5 point performance in Boston. The bench combined for 46 points with standout performances by Rodney Stuckey (13 pts - 6/9 FG, 4 rbs, 2 asts), Jason Maxiell (12 pts -5/8 FG), and Juan Dixon (9 pts, 4 asts, 3 rbs).

“I thought our bench won this game for us, easy,” - Chauncey Billups

The bench wasn’t the only ones righting wrongs. Tayshaun, who went 0-10 with 0 points the last time the Pistons played the Knicks, played a superbly scoring a game high 28 points and grabbing 7 boards. Tayshuan seems to have a knack for stepping up his offensive game when we’re down a starter. He did it the first game of the season when he scored a career high 34 with Rip out of the line up, and again 5 days ago when he scored 22 against the Sonics with Chancey out of the line up.

We also got to see a preview of what we can expect from Theo Ratliff (V 2.0) who got the start for Rasheed . Theo scored 5 points, grabbed 5 boards, and blocked a couple shots in his 22 minutes. Theo played the 300 lb Curry strong. He probably would have been help on Perkins and the Celtics. It’s even more encouraging considering he hasn’t even practiced with the team yet.

The Pistons will take on the new post Ben Wallace era Chicago Bulls on Sunday.