Spencer Dinwiddie

Detroit Pistons rookie guard Spencer Dinwiddie could play tonight.

(AP Photo | David Zalubowski)

AUBURN HILLS -- Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy has referenced his 2003-04 Miami Heat team so often that he can recite its progress by rote -- 0-7 to start the season, then 5-15, 25-36, and finally a 42-40 playoff team after a furious late-season rally.

He calls it his most enjoyable season.

Van Gundy never has missed postseason as a head coach, though today's Pistons, at 3-8 entering a 7:30 p.m. game against the Phoenix Suns, are in early peril.

They have precisely the same 11-game record as their coach's first Miami team.

"Getting through these situations really comes down to character of your team and how hard they're willing to work on an everyday basis, both in practice and games, to get it right," Van Gundy said. "And we haven't come through it yet to know. That's what it comes down to. That group was exceptional and it didn't come overnight."

That Heat team had some elements -- like a young Dwyane Wade, for example -- that this Pistons team lacks.

Mostly, it was resilient, a characteristic Van Gundy is anxious to learn whether this team possesses.

He clearly has concerns. He was the one who wrote the words "Fight or Flight? Together or Apart?" on the locker-room whiteboard after Monday's loss to Orlando, one player said.

"There's a long, long, long way to go," Van Gundy said. "But if you get to the point, at 3-8 or 3-9 or 3-10, or whenever it is, that you're just discouraged and you don't believe it can happen, you sort of let it go -- well, then you let it go, and there's not a whole lot you're going to do after that point.

"We're not there yet and I hope we don't get there. We'll find out."

Van Gundy's 2003-04 Heat went on to win a playoff series and took eventual Eastern Conference champion Indiana to six games in the conference semifinals.

"The only thing that allowed you to do that is guys never let anything go," he said. "It's hard to believe at 3-8, it's hard to believe at 5-15, it's hard to believe at 25-36 that you're going anywhere. That was an exceptional group, really, really exceptional people.

"Anybody could have let that season go and turned it into a 25-win season and they wouldn't. They just kept getting better every step of the way, to the point that, by the end of the year, we were actually pretty good."

Van Gundy hinted it would be a difficult journey for a Pistons team accustomed to losing. He noted that the only player with a winning career record in the NBA is Joel Anthony, the Pistons' third center.

"Some of them have never been on good teams, and a lot of them have still been on more bad teams than good teams," Van Gundy said. "So that's a hard thing when that's all you know and that's all you expect. And that's what you're trying to overcome."

PISTONS NOTES

Is tonight Spencer time?: Phoenix extensively uses two point guards simultaneously, even sometimes extending that to three, which means rookie second-round draft pick Spencer Dinwiddie could fit into tonight's rotation, Van Gundy said. Dinwiddie played briefly in the season-opening game at Denver and has not played since but the Pistons are concerned about using Kyle Singler at shooting guard tonight. The Suns effectively start two point guards in Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, and bring Isaiah Thomas off the bench.

Problem spot transforms into strength: The Pistons were NBA bottom-feeders in 3-point shooting early in the season. Over the last eight games, they are shooting 40.8 percent as the focus on their offensive problems shift more to ball movement and not finishing at the rim.

Don't forget about me: Partly by injuries, partly by rotation decisions, and partly because the Pistons have yet to be involved in a fourth-quarter blowout or experienced serious perimeter foul issues, four players have yet to play this season: Gigi Datome, Cartier Martin, Jodie Meeks and Tony Mitchell. Dinwiddie played eight minutes of the opener.

Weeks for Meeks: It has been five weeks since Meeks was diagnosed with a lower-back stress reaction. He is expected to miss three more weeks, and when he returns, there will be a conditioning dropoff to address. Van Gundy said Meeks is "still a long, long way off," and he doesn't expect the player to be at full speed until late December or early January.

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