<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Sunday is traditionally a day to rest, but best of luck telling that to Ben Wallace.The linchpin of the Pistons' defense went to work anyway, showing up at the Palace practice facility to lift weights and work on his shot while leaving the household Easter egg hunt in the capable hands of his son, Bryce. The truth is, Detroit's defense could use some work. It has limped through March, appearing more vulnerable than vigilant. "We've still got a long way to go on the defensive end," Wallace said. "We're not forcing teams to go to their second and third options; we're allowing teams to come down and catch the ball a little too easy. We've got to get back to pressuring teams and make them go to their second options." Even Saturday night, when the Pistons broke a three-game losing streak by beating Boston, 105-99, in overtime, defense was largely absent until the fourth quarter. Such inconsistency has marred March -- the Pistons began the month allowing teams an average of 88.2 points, but this month, opponents have averaged 96 points. That's not the kind of trend a team wants to develop 13 games before the playoffs begin. "Not by far, we're not even close to where we need to be at," Wallace said. The return of Richard Hamilton, without whom the team went 0-3, should help, but not unless there's a team-wide increase in hustle. "Sometimes we start the game off, we don't have a lot of respect for the guys that we're guarding," acting head coach Gar Heard said. "It just has to be effort, and it's just something we have to keep building on."</div> Source
