--Tayshaun Prince's backups have a short shelf life.
The expiration date on Jarvis Hayes will most likely be the Pistons' final playoff game this season. Hayes didn't play in the first three games of this series, then flopped in a short stint in Game 4. In two-plus minutes in the first quarter, Hayes shot an air-ball and committed two fouls guarding Paul Pierce. Hayes did not play in Game 5.
The extra minutes that Prince has played with Hayes in the doghouse has affected his offense. Prince is shooting 33 percent in the conference finals, compared to 56 percent in the first two rounds.
Prince hasn't posted up as much in this series, which has contributed to his shooting decline.
"Every time Tay gets it, one of the bigs is coming to Tay almost in kind of a soft-trap situation," coach Flip Saunders said. "So, they haven't given him a lot of openings down there."
Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars gave Hayes, a restricted free agent from Washington, a one-year, $1.2 million contract to prove he could solidify that spot.
While going through wild streaks in production, Hayes seemingly earned himself a new contract by averaging 6.7 points and appearing in every regular-season game.
Once the playoffs began, Hayes played himself out of the rotation. He struggled to make perimeter shots in shorter spurts and was consistently attacked on the defensive end, first by Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala and then by Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu.
--The Pistons began their fourth-quarter rally in Game 5 with Chauncey Billups and Prince on the bench. When Billups re-entered with 5:18, Boston's lead was down to seven, 92-85.
There were some protests on the bench to leave Lindsey Hunter in the game but Billups quickly cut it to four, 92-88, with a three-pointer.
"All decisions I make are never popular -- the media, the players, whatever it is," Saunders said. "Lindsey did a good job for us to get us in that position. I wasn't going to hesitate to go back with him defending but I thought we had some scattering offensive sequences. Chauncey came in and hit a big (three-pointer) right away and made some big shots."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We're not going away. They had guys that played a heck of a game. We struggled at times rebounding-wise and we still had opportunities down the stretch, so we've got to do what we do. We've got to go back home and play with the same intensity we played with (Wednesday). We'll have a heck of a game back there and then we'll come back here." -- Coach Flip Saunders, on the Game 5 loss.
