Teacher meets student tonight at The Palace of Auburn Hills, where Detroit Pistons first-year head coach John Kuester squares off with mentor Larry Brown and the Charlotte Bobcats.

Kuester was an assistant under the Hall of Fame coach when the Pistons executed Brown's 'play the right way' philosophy which resulted in an NBA title over the Los Angeles Lakers in 2003-04. They also worked together in Philadelphia. Kuester has banged-up Detroit at 3-4, the same record for Brown's Bobcats, and is coming off Sunday's 88-81 victory versus the 76ers.

Ben Gordon has stepped up in the absence of Richard Hamilton (ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (back) and scored 23 points, while Charlie Villanueva netted 16 points and Rodney Stuckey 13 for Detroit, which ended a two-game losing streak. Big man Ben Wallace pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds in the win.

"Every win we get right now, especially with our two starters out, is a big win for us," said Gordon, who is averaging a career-high 24.0 points in his first season with Detroit. "Things could have gone either way...but we gutted it out and did what we needed to win the game."

Hamilton and Prince are both out indefinitely. Hamilton has missed six games in a row and Prince has been sidelined four straight contests.

Meanwhile, Brown's Bobcats have dropped two in row after a brief two-game winning streak and recently suffered a 93-81 home setback versus the Orlando Magic.

Raymond Felton led five players in double figures with 18 points and both Gerald Wallace and Raja Bell posted 13 points for Charlotte, which got 14 points, eight assists and six rebounds from Boris Diaw. Nazr Mohammed completed the double-digit barrage with 11 points in defeat.

"Our energy was taken away right from the beginning," Brown said. "Tyson (Chandler) got two fouls in warmups, but that being said we got control over our emotions and we didn't compete at a high enough level."

The Pistons won three of four meetings with the Bobcats last season and have won seven of eight and 12 of the past 15 matchups in this series. Charlotte has dropped three of four and seven of nine at The Palace of Auburn Hills.