Palace of Auburn Hills

Ironically, the Detroit Pistons do not play their home games in Detroit. Rather, the team calls The Palace of Auburn Hills, a town which serves as a suburb to the metropolitan area, home. The Palace was completed in 1988, and during its lifespan, it has also served as the home of the WNBA's Detroit Shock, the Detroit Fury of the AFL, the Detroit Vipers hockey team and the Detroit Safari soccer club. It is considered to be a rather large stadium in terms of basketball venues, and can comfortable seat more than 22,000 people for Pistons games. The Palace cost $70 million to build and was 100-percent privately funded, mostly out of the pocketbook of Detroit owner Bill Davidson, who opted not to share the Joe Louis Arena with the Detroit Red Wings and instead decided to build his own arena. The venue currently has 180 luxury suites, but their popularity has lead ownership to consider adding more in the near future.

Detroit's Amazing First Year at The Palace of Auburn Hills

When the Palace of Auburn Hills first opened in 1988, few could have expected just what a wonderful year it would turn out to be for the Pistons. That season, led by Isiah Thomas, they set a franchise record by winning 63 games. Thomas led Detroit in scoring with 18.2 points per game, and Dennis Rodman added nearly 10 rebounds per game while leading the NBA in shooting percentage at .595. In the first two rounds of the playoffs, Detroit swept both the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks before locking horns with the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Pistons won that series in six games and advanced to the NBA Championship series, where they swept the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in four straight. Guard Joe Dumars was named MVP, averaging 27.3 points per game against L.A. A new stadium and a championship banner to match. Not bad.