The first 10,000 fans at the Palace tonight will win a free Star Wars movie poster. Oh the irony. Additionally, there will be 30 Star Wars characters around the Palace, in costume, to greet fans. Sadly, Char Char Binks will not be in attendance, he's still out with a sore ankle.

Game Tips at 7:30 P.M. EST

New Jersey Nets: 8 - 19 (5 - 10 road)

Detroit Pistons: 7 - 20 (5 - 8 home)

The Situation:

The pride of the hopeful Russian emperor attempts to strike back tonight, having been defeated by the forceful play of Greg Monroe on Wednesday (get it? forceful?. It was the last the Pistons would ever see of the Nets in New Jersey, but they are taking the fight to our own, wintry turf tonight (spoiler alert: the Nets will ultimately reveal an armed and fully operational battle station in Brooklyn next season). Yeah, I could keep the Star Wars references up throughout this whole preview, I'm just that nerdy. But I won't put you all through that.

We've played the Nets twice already this month, and I'm giving up so much material though. Old Ben? Jodda the Hut? The aforementioned Char Char Binks, who single-handedly ruined Episode 1? So much material. I could write a paragraph about how Tayshaun Prince reminds me of C-3PO, a whiny, a stiff robot. I could write another paragraph about whether Jonas Jerebko is Luke Skywalker, a bright and annoyingly pure jedi, or Han Solo, a dashing rogue who totally just Greedo'd Jason Smith the other night. I'm gonna go with the latter. JoHan JerebSolo.

Okay fine, I'll give it a rest.

Keys to the Game:

Feed the Wookie: Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a wookie. Sure, you could let C-3PO attempt another isolation play, but droids don't pull people's arms out of their socket when they lose. Wookiees are known to do that.

Jump to Light Speed - We're not going to outrun imperial cruisers at this pace, so get R2 (Larry Frank. Larry Frank is clearly R2D2) to fix the hyperspeed thingy and push the pace a bit.

Defend Echo Base - They have the firepower to penetrate the seat of the rebel alliance, so prevent them even getting there in the first place.

Question of the Game:

Is Anthony Davis the prophesied one who will bring balance to the force? Does Mike Payne live in his mom's basement?

The Pistons are playing their best basketball of the season. After winning three consecutive games, the Pistons find themselves at third to worst in the Eastern Conference, but only four games (in the win column) out of the eight seed. In absolute terms, four games may not seem insurmountable. Relatively speaking, this team has managed to win only seven times in twenty-seven tries. Winning four games, in other words, isn’t that simple.

In any case, I jumped on the Unibrow/Sullinger bandwagon a long time ago, and fortunately for likeminded Pistons fans, the statistical production of this group bodes well for that outcome. If current efficiency differentials hold, this team will be expected to finish the season 14-52, or squarely in the mix for a top-three pick.

Here’s a quick peek at how three of the most popular advanced metrics allocate the (lack) of Pistons success this season. My thoughts after the jump, yours in the comments. (Use the Wide view to see the table fully)

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The Pistons won a game on Wednesday night -- their third in a row. That's called a winning streak; it has happened before. Just not this season. If Detroit does the unthinkable and wins a fourth in a row on Friday, it'll equal their win total through the first 24 games. Now, let's jack it up.

I know, I know; the Pistons won a game, but potentially hurt their lottery odds. That said, when the Pistons win, especially in this fashion, I'm never going to be one to complain. I mean, a Jonas Jerebko "foreign facial"? A clutch three from Brandon Knight? A Greg Monroe driving tomahawk slam dunk shot? It was the future doing some exciting things to make sure a one-time 18-point lead didn't slip away, albeit against an equally bad team playing without any energy. The Pistons went around the world twice for its fans tonight, and guess what? They're still the fourth worst team in the NBA with plenty of lotto balls in their back pockets.

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Monroe led the way with his 14th double-double of the season (and eighth in the last nine games) -- 20 points on 10-for-16 shooting and 12 rebounds. Jerebko added 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Ben Gordon returned to the lineup with 14 points (on 6-for-7 shooting) and five rebounds.

The Pistons won despite Deron Williams' best effort to remain perfect against the Pistons; he dropped 34 points and assisted on seven baskets. Speaking of assists, the Pistons had a season-high 29.

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Two of the five worst teams in the NBA face off tonight as the Detroit Pistons play the New Jersey Nets in the first game of a home-and-home. While the Pistons are waiting out the onerous contracts of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva as they chart a path to respectability, the Nets are playing a waiting game of their own -- the Dwight Howard Waiting Game.

If New Jersey can swing a trade for the big man, the odds of being able to re-sign point guard Deron Williams greatly increase, which would give the Nets two great building blocks as they move into new digs in Brooklyn. If they don't land Howard, Williams might leave in free agency or be traded for pennies on the dollar, leaving the Nets with about $40 million in cap space and nobody to spend it on.

In the meantime, these two bottom feeders will battle for pride on the court while their respective fanbases root for lottery balls off the court. Not to say that I don't want the Pistons to win while I'm watching them, but once it's over and i accept the inevitable defeat, I click on over to watch Kentucky, Kansas, UConn and North Carolina. And dream. Just sayin'.

Game Tips at 7:30 P.M. EST

Detroit Pistons: 6 - 20 (1 - 12 road)

New Jersey Nets: 8 - 18 (3 - 8 home)

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It's official: Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight are headed to All-Star Weekend. From the Pistons' press release:

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - The National Basketball Association announced today that Detroit Pistons players Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight have been selected for the 2012 BBVA Rising Stars Challenge to be held on Friday, Feb. 24, in Orlando during NBA All-Star 2012.

Monroe is one of three Pistons' players to appear in all 26 games this season, averaging team-highs in points (16.3 ppg) and rebounds (9.9 rpg) in 32.9 minutes per game. Among NBA leaders he ranks 11th in field goal percentage (second among NBA sophomores and third among NBA Eastern Conference centers), 13th in rebounds (third among NBA sophomores and T-3rd among NBA Eastern Conference centers) and 31st in scoring (second among NBA sophomores and NBA Eastern Conference centers). His 10 double-doubles during the month of January were the most for a Pistons player during that month since Bill Laimbeer recorded 14 during the 1986-87 season and Dennis Rodman tallied 11 during the 1991-92 season. Monroe was a member of the Rookie Team during last year's event at NBA All-Star 2011 in Los Angeles where the Rookies won for the second consecutive year, 148-140.

Knight has appeared in 26 games (20 starts), averaging 12.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 32.0 minutes per game. Amongst NBA rookie leaders the 6-foot-3 guard ranks second in scoring and minutes played, third in field goal percentage (.405), fourth in assists, T-6th in three-point field goal percentage (.352), ninth in steals (0.69 spg) and 10th in rebounds. His 38 three-point field goals made ranks first amongst current NBA rookies and second-most among rookies in Pistons franchise history (Lindsey Hunter - 69).

If you haven't been paying attention, the Rookie-Sophomore game has a new twist, with rosters being drafted by Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal from a pool of first- and second-year players. The draft takes place on Feb. 16, and the game itself will be played on Feb. 24. SB Nation NBA has the full pool of players that will be joining Monroe and Knight.