Good Boys, Good Boys, watcha gonna do?

	Ben Wallace provides plenty of board play for the Pistons.

The Pistons of this decade have a different image. They contend for a division and conference title because of defense and depth and unselfish play. They're so giving that they even let the Pacers smash-and-grab the family tree without complaining or filing an Artest warrant. Except that it's not just a nickname or a rep.

The Detroit offense? It's fallen and it can't get up.

Someone misplaced the Pistons' scoring. Normally, this is not a problem. They finished 18th in offense last season and still won the Central crown. But the playoffs are getting close and the playoffs are not a normal time.

That same team that won with grit and defense in 2001-02?

Game 1 of the conference semifinals against Boston: 96 points and a win.

Game 2: 77 points and a loss.

Game 3: 64 points and a loss.

Game 4: 79 points and a loss.

Game 5: 81 points and a loss.

The Pistons held their opponent to 90 points or less every time ... and still got eliminated. Welcome to their wake-up call for 2002-03.

"You can get by in the regular season," said Jon Barry, a key reserve, "but in the playoffs, everybody's defense gets better. You're going to have to find a way to get better. You have to have an Option B or C."

They already have D. At the start of the week, no one was allowing fewer points in the league and, in the more-accurate guage, only four had a better shooting defense. All of which is commendable and valued and a major reason for continued success. It's just not going to answer what has been the pressing question since Day 1 of training camp.

Who will score when it matters?

The Pistons can control the tempo all they want, but everybody downshifts to some extent in the playoffs, so getting opponents into a halfcourt box won't be such a weapon in the postseason.

They can be a throwback to teams that played the old-school right way -- passing, making few mistakes, dominant defensive rebounding that limits opponents' chances -- but so could the 2001-02 version, and look where that got them.

Richard Hamilton is a proven scorer, heading toward 20 points a game for the second season in a row, but Jerry Stackhouse last season was at 21 and averaged twice as many assists. So it's not just about having a primary weapon.

"Look at the players we brought in and the core players that are still here," Clifford Robinson countered. "Everybody is capable of scoring when they are put in a position where a play had to be made. Everybody says we don't have a go-to guy. I say we have a group of them."

Added Barry: "That's the label. Our secret weapon happens to be a guy averaging six points a game. Rip Hamilton is averaging 20. I'm sure some teams out there don't have a guy averaging 20 points a game."

Sarcasm obvious, since Barry knows rebounding demon Ben Wallace is not such a secret weapon. But point well taken. This is a very unique team, unlike any other in the league, one of the worst-scoring clubs and at the same time one of the best groups of 3-point shooters. They like to play it slow and smart. Well, coach Rick Carlisle does.

So different are the Pistons that they even came out of nowhere. In January of last season, they were 20-20. And then, all of the sudden, they came together like a thunderclap, going from lottery regulars in rebuilding mode to a 30-12 finish from there that led to a division championship and a momentum that has carried them through March of this season. Nothing has been the same.

The change came for no particular reason other than they needed a few months of meshing. The core was almost entirely new, beyond Wallace, and among the new presences was Robinson, who would become the even-keeled locker room leader, and a fundamentals-first coach. Doing it again after the Jerry Stackhouse-for-Hamilton trade and the free-agent deal for new starting point guard Chauncey Billups came while raising the degree of difficulty with another lineup transition.

Joe Dumars, the Pistons president of basketball operations, had successfully feasted on the mistakes and tough predicaments of others to grow a winner out of the ashes. He got elite frontcourt defender Robinson because the Suns wanted to get away from his contract and/or image problem, got Barry because the Kings wanted to dump his salary, got Corliss Williamson because he was a disappointment in Toronto and got Indiana assistant Carlisle only because the Pacers picked Isiah Thomas to replace Larry Bird as coach.

Joe D doing it the right way in Detroit. Yeah, that's a big shock. Williamson became Sixth Man of the Year, Wallace Defensive Player of the Year, Barry a spirited bench presence and perimeter threat, and Carlisle the Coach of the Year. In all, they won on the road, an encouraging sign of the immediate development. They won by defending and playing unselfishly, with Dumars even successfuly challenging Stackhouse to make the transition from me-first offensive player to a willing passer. When his potential contract headache after this season became a concern and the chance to get the slashing Hamilton, Dumars gambled on that payoff for Rip, while everyone else noticed the sudden absence of a go-to guy and predicted a setback to the rebuilding.

"I just think that people, when they assess teams and make judgements about teams, so so on big-name recognition and, to a certain extent, hype," Dumars said. "We don't posses that. We don't have the big names. We don't have the hype. We don't have those trinkets. And because of that, people don't look at us like that."

Like a contender, at least for the Eastern title.

At least most, wrongfully, didn't. So the Pistons made two more changes to the starting lineup and took off in 2002-03 too, defending and allowing few second-chance baskets because Wallace inhales every defensive rebound. By this February, they are in the lead pack with New Jersey and Indiana as the best in the conference, waiting to see if someone else has a second-half charge in them, like New Orleans once Baron Davis gets back.

Not only that, it comes with the potential for a top-five draft pick because of a long-ago deal that gives the Pistons the Grizzlies' first-round choice unless it is No. 1 overall. Just in case there isn't enough reason for encouragement in Detroit. They just can't wait until the draft to get more scoring from the current roster.

Scott Howard-Cooper, who covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.