The Pistons already clinched home-court in the East, but we thought maybe they’d at least want to send a message or something to the Raptors last night. Guess not. While the usual five started and got in enough minutes to keep their legs fresh (Rip Hamilton dropped 24 points in 26 minutes), it was kinda like a preseason game for Detroit. When you look up in the fourth quarter and see Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell, Antonio McDyess, Lindsey Hunter and Carlos Delfino on the floor, you know the deal. Even when the Raps went on a big run and got within two points in the fourth, the only sub Flip Saunders made was bringing in Ronald Dupree … While the Raptors came back to get the win, their fans still should be concerned that the Pistons’ “B” team played the Raptors’ “A” lineup — they’re trying to grab the No. 2 seed in the East — and almost took the game. Chris Bosh (16 pts, 18 rebs) and T.J. Ford were on the court until the final buzzer, and it’s not like they were going up against ‘Sheed and Chauncey … The Mavs didn’t seem too interested in beating the Jazz, either. Kevin Willis, Greg Buckner, Austin Croshere and Jose Juan Barea (”JJ Barea” to the Mavs announcers) were all getting significant second-half burn. Dirk and Josh Howard played more minutes than we thought they would/should, while Jason Terry was given the day off. Jet took advantage, too. For the entire third quarter he did color commentary on Dallas’ radio broadcast, and for most of the fourth was being interviewed by the TV crew. And neither Terry or the announcers were paying a bit of attention to the game during that interview; Rolando Blackman could have slipped on a Dallas uni and got some buckets off dimes from Derek Harper, and no one would have noticed. Jason did take a minute to promo his Jet Collection clothing line, though, and when one of the Mavs announcers joked about “bad planning” with Jet’s pregnant wife set to deliver during the Finals, Terry actually said, “This is our fourth pregnancy and none of them were planned. That’s not my fault.” … Nuggets/Hornets was at least meaningful, with Denver gunning to lock up the sixth seed and the Hornets fighting to stay in the playoff picture and playing their last game in Oklahoma City. You know how we’ve talked about the OKC crowd bringing that college atmosphere? With the home team down one with 17 ticks remaining and Carmelo Anthony on the line, someone threw a beach ball onto the court while ‘Melo bricked his first free throw. The Nuggets and their announcers were beside themselves calling for a do-over, but the refs weren’t going for it. ‘Melo (31 pts) made the second FT, and the Hornets blew four chances at the other end that could have tied or won the game … Marcus Camby might have locked up Defensive Player of the Year, pulling down 11 boards and blocking 9 shots to go with 15 points … Two other games that meant something, Clippers/Blazers and Warriors/Kings, really only meant something for half the teams involved, and it showed. Listening to the Kings announcers marvel at the ball movement and unselfishness of the Warriors reminded us how long ago the Webber/Bibby/Peja/Divac/Adelman era seemed to be … The Spurs did the preseason thing with their stars, except for Tony Parker. He picked up two fouls in the game’s first two minutes and was never seen again. San Antonio still routed the KG-less Wolves … As comically bad as the Knicks are right now, it’s crazy to think they were actually in the playoff chase not too long ago. New York got demo’d again last night, this time in Jersey. As far as we know there weren’t any Big Mac issues, and in fact, with the Nets up by a lot in the final minute, we’re 100 percent sure they gave up a shot-clock violation on one possession rather than risk another “incident.” The Knicks announcers even picked up on what happened … Jason Kidd had another triple-double (13 pts, 14 rebs, 11 asts) and helped make the Knicks officially a Lottery team again … Yeah, so it was against the Hawks. And yeah, those Hawks didn’t have Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Zaza Pachulia, Josh Childress, Speedy Claxton and Salim Stoudamire. Either way, the Wizards got a win without Arenas and Butler. That’s a big deal for them … Georgetown juniors Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert are throwing their names in the draft without hiring agents yet. That brings the list of underclassmen in the mix to Kevin Durant, Big Baby, Arron Afflalo, Dem Gator Boyz, Josh McRoberts, Julian Wright, Marcus Williams (Arizona), Spencer Hawes (Washington), Dominic James (Marquette), Wilson Chandler (DePaul), Jason Smith (Colorado State), Dominic McGuire (Fresno State), Marcel Jones (Oregon State), Roy Bright (Delaware State) and Chris Daniels (Texas A&M Corpus-Christi) … Word is Lil’ Romeo is getting a scholarship to play ball at USC. We’re not trying to hate, but part of our business is knowing who’s who to in high school ball, and we’ve never heard anyone talk about Romeo like he’s That Guy. Class of ‘08 superstar PG Brandon Jennings (another USC commit) even told us once that Romeo is just “alright” on the court … We’re out like the Knicks …