Pistons vs. Wizards final score: Greg Monroe, bigs carry Detroit to win on opening night

What happened:

Fun happened. For the first time in years, the Pistons were legitimately fun to watch. They were fun to watch because they're good, and they should only get better. I mean, look how fun [GIFs via Guyism]:

And this ...

The Pistons dominated the Wizards in the paint, outscoring them in the first half 32-8 and 56-28 for the game. Greg Monroe was all kinds of Moosey with 24 points, 12 of which came at the free throw line, and 16 rebounds. The three Pistons' bigs had 55 of the team's 113 points.

The Pistons almost let up in the fourth quarter, allowing the Wizards to get as close as four, but after a couple CTBAAFs and Chauncey Billups big shots (hence, Mr. Big Shot), the Pistons pulled away for good.

What stood out:

The Pistons had a lot of defensive issues and were a little out of sorts on offense at times, but this team is going to lead the NBA in points in the paint. They came easy, early and often. Once Cheeks gets some continuity with his rotations and the players get used to playing with one another, loooooook out. Da Vinci type paint stuff.

Who stood out:

Chauncey Billups' looked like he did in his prime. His first regular season game back at The Palace [in a Pistons uniform] was simply horripilating. He hit four of his five three-pointers, two of which curbed a fourth-quarter scare. It's great to have Billups back donning the Pistons red, blue and white. He was getting M-V-P chants while knocking down free throws late in the fourth quarter. (In case you forgot, he was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP.)

There are going to be storylines about how Greg Monroe is playing for a max contract -- blah blah blah -- but we know all he does is (continue to) beast. Most impressive for Monroe was his 15 free-throw attempts. Dominant performance.

Josh Smith -- he can do it all. He turned the ball over four times and airmailed a three, but he showed he's a very good basketball player, capable of attacking the rim, passing, dunking, defending and, yes, even shooting the long ball (3-7). Smith finished with 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting, five assists, five rebounds and a block.

Bullets:

• Andre Drummond had 10 points and eight rebounds with two minutes left in the first half and finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. He got into foul trouble in the second half and didn't play the final 11 minutes of the game. He didn't look too happy at the end of the game.
• Pistons didn't run a whole lot in the second half. After leading 10-0 at the half in fast-break points, they only scored three such points in the second half (to Washington's nine).
• Will Bynum looked good for the most part with 17 points and five assists, but there were some typical ugly-Will selfish moments. After consecutive forced shots in the third quarter, Bynum was pulled and Billups proceeded to give free lessons on how to run the point. Billups is going to be a very positive mentor for Bynum (and Jennings when he returns).
• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is going to be good, but he'll have some growing pains. He was 4-for-12 shooting, but never lost confidence and was very active on defense. I'm a fan.
• Peyton Siva, Tony Mitchell and LUIGI DATOME played the final 19 seconds of the game.
• No Charlie Villanueva
• BOX SCORE
• The Pistons are in 1st Place.

Roll call: Ironic, he who's named heWizard wins the Roll Call...