There was a time when the Detroit Pistons were the most feared defensive team in the NBA, a collection of bangers and warriors who thought nothing of treating a basketball game like a wrestling match.

Now that was a team that had the likes of Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman and no one wearing the retro Detroit jerseys these days is ever going to approximate that championship squad.

But first-year coach Rick Carlisle is trying to instil into this team the same kind of defence first and ferocious mentality of the Bad Boys.

"I think we're playing what our game is and that is to be a defensive team first, to play a physical style game," Carlisle said after last night's 89-76 win over the Raptors. "We happen to have a group of guys that take some pride in playing defence. A lot of teams don't like playing the defensive end of the floor. There are guys on our team who really like the challenge. Ben Wallace and Clifford Robinson ? those two guys really set the tone for us."